ALBUQUERQUE – Boise State’s charter flight home late Wednesday night nearly got rerouted at the request of coach Leon Rice.
“We’re actually going to divert the plane to Vegas and put it all on 12 black,” Rice joked on the BNN Postgame Show.
With the way things went for Boise State’s No. 12 at The Pit on Wednesday, the roulette wheel probably would have landed on it several times.
Max Rice had a career-high 35 points and hit several clutch shots in the second half to help Boise State to one of the best wins of the Leon Rice era – a 86-78 win over No. 19 New Mexico on the road. Rice, who had been stuck in a prolonged shooting slump, went 7 of 14 from 3-point range and 12 of 20 from the field overall in what will be a memorable final game for him inside The Pit.
“A lot of sleepless nights for me,” Rice said. “I came into this one more locked in than I have in my entire career. And I’ll say this was one of the bigger wins we’ve had in our program’s history.”
It was just Boise State’s fourth road win over a ranked team in program history. The 19th ranked Lobos are the second highest ranked team the Broncos ever defeated on the road behind only No. 8 Creighton in 2012.
The win also improved Boise State to 15-6 overall and 6-2 in Mountain West play. The Broncos now sit in sole possession of second place after rebounding impressively from a tough overtime loss at home to Utah State just four days earlier.
New Mexico had been 11-0 at home this season and was coming off a 34-point home win over Nevada on Sunday night. The Lobos had double digit home wins over San Diego State, Utah State, Nevada and Wyoming at home coming into Wednesday night.
“The competitive greatness that we have with our group to be able to come in here and stand up to this (atmosphere), where no one else has – nobody else has even come close in here – that’s a credit to our staff,” Leon Rice told Bronco Nation News. “That last pill we had to swallow was a bitter one and it was hard going down, but to bounce back and come down here where nobody thought we could get it done, just the 30 of us on that plane.”
O’Mar Stanley had 12 points and 14 rebounds and Chibuzo Agbo had 16 points and 7 rebounds for the Broncos, who trailed 10-2 early in the game before settling in and playing much better.
A crowd of more than 13,000 was loud and energetic the entire game – but the Broncos silenced them late with a 19-11 run to finish the game after the score was tied at 67-67 with eight minutes to go.
“We just didn’t get rattled when things got hectic,” Agbo told BNN. “We were physical. We came in and rebounded and got a lot of offensive rebounds and that’s what got us started. In big games like this, that’s a key for us, to start big on the boards.”
As for witnessing Max Rice’s historic night, Agbo said, “He was cooking. Every shot felt like it was going to go in. He’s just a great player and it’s got to be hard to be a coaches son, no matter if you play great or have one bad game, people are going to have a lot to say, so kudos to him for keeping his head up.”
Said Stanley on Rice, “It was an amazing shooting clinic. He works his tail off and we hear all the hate and for him to go out and do that, it really tells you want kind of person Max Rice is. Every great shooter goes through slumps and we know he’s a great shooter and he puts in the work so we’re not surprised by tonight.”
Rice entered the game with the lowest field goal percentage of any qualifying player in the Mountain West. He air-balled an early 3-pointer which got the crowd chanting “air ball” the next time he touched the ball. But he hit his next 3-pointer to quiet the crowd and got rolling after that.
He also added five rebounds, two steals and an assist while playing 35 minutes – including all 20 minutes in the second half. Rice had 24 points in the final 20 minutes on 8 of 12 shooting.
“We don’t win this game if somebody is not making shots like that,” Leon Rice said. “His teammates recognized the hot hand and Max just doesn’t care about anything else – he cares about winning. The thing that shouldn’t be lost is he does so much, he comes up with steals, he comes up with rebounds at crucial times, he doesn’t turn the ball over. And against these guys, that’s huge.”
Donovan Dent had 31 points for New Mexico, while Jamal Mashburn Jr. had 14 and Jaelen House had 12 points on 2 of 15 shooting. The Broncos held the Lobos to 40.9 percent shooting from the field. Boise State also had a 41-33 edge on the glass, including 13 offensive rebounds which turned into 17 points.
Rice’s previous career high was 30 points, done last season at home against the same Lobos.
“Credit to Boise State, I thought they played terrific,” New Mexico coach Richard Pitino said. “Max Rice just continues to hurt us. O’Mar Stanley was a phenomenal addition in the portal for them. They just played with such a great motor on the glass. We weren’t able to turn them over which has helped us.
“We didn’t hit shots at the end. Give them credit. They made more plays than we did.”
Boise State moved up to No. 50 at KenPom with the win and figures to make a nice jump when the NET rankings update overnight as well.
The Broncos are back in action Saturday when they host Air Force at 2 p.m. before heading back on the road to face Colorado State and Utah State next week.
