SAN DIEGO – Max Rice just a had a feeling.
Not about his crazy shot. About his teammate Cam Martin.
Rice’s faith in Martin proved true and thew two veterans combined for two of the biggest plays of the season Friday night to help Boise State rally to beat San Diego State in overtime, 79-77, at Viejas Arena.
After O’Mar Stanley fouled out with 31 seconds left in regulation, Rice told Cam Martin as the two walked towards the court to start overtime that the seventh-year senior was about to have one of the best moments of his career.
Martin went on to grab an offensive rebound and get fouled with 1.7 seconds left in overtime and the score tied at 77. He hit both free throws, then had a huge block at center court on Darrion Trammel’s half-court shot at the buzzer to help the Broncos to their biggest win of the season.
“I just went up to him and said ‘for some reason this feels like destiny’,” Rice said. “Our last road game together, I just had a feeling he was going to win this game for us and I told him that and that’s what he did. He won the game for us.”
Martin finished with 10 points – he was one of six players in double figures – and had four offensive rebounds. None were bigger than his rebound of a Roddie Anderson missed layup in the final seconds.
He went back up for the shot and got fouled, setting the stage for one of the bigger moments of his career. Martin calmly swished both as a once-raucous sellout crowd fell silent.
“No nerves,” Martin said. “Honestly when I was shooting the free throw I said it was all worth it for this moment right here. The last away game of this long journey and God put me in the right spot and I was very grateful.
“Me and Max were talking and he said it’s destiny, it’s part of your journey, you’re going to have a big overtime. … It’s definitely my favorite win of my career.”
Boise State (22-9, 13-5 MW) picked up a sixth Quad 1 win (only 11 teams in the country have more) and improved to 9-9 in the first two quadrants. The Broncos have no losses outside Quadrant 2 and should be in prime position for a solid seed in the NCAA Tournament with the Mountain West Tournament up first this week.
The Broncos improved to No. 25 in the NET rankings and No. 38 at KenPom after picking up a seventh league road win in nine games. Boise State had the best road record in the league at 7-2 – and heads into the final day of the regular season still alive in the Mountain West regular season title race.
A New Mexico win Saturday night against Utah State would give Boise State a share of the regular season title for the second time in three seasons.
Boise State has also now won six of the past seven matchups against the Mountain West’s premier program.
“The battles we’ve had with them have just been epic and this one was maybe one of the most epic,” Boise State coach Leon Rice said. “It lived up to the hype of all these battles we’ve had. We were just fortunate to have the last shot at the free throw line and got the win.”
Martin’s heroics wouldn’t happened if not for two other game-changing plays.
First, with Boise State trailing 72-70 in the final seconds, Anderson drove the line and got a floater to fall with 7.4 seconds left to tie the game and send it to overtime.
Anderson had 16 points – but his coast to coast layup after a missed free throw from Lamont Butler was one of his biggest buckets of the season.
“When I recruited him I did the research and talked to a lot of people and I said we need somebody that can go by guys to play these guys,” Rice said. “We don’t have that many guys that do that at the guard spot and they do and they are hard to get by.
“Their defense is one of the best in the country and Roddie got by them and got in the lane and hung that thing up there on the rim and somehow it went in. That kid is just getting better and better.”
The craziest shot of them all may have been a near-half court heave from Max Rice, who picked up a loose ball near the center court line, turned and threw a prayer towards the basket as the shot clock expired.
The shot somehow went in from 40 feet out to give Boise State a 77-72 lead with 1:58 to go.
“When he let that go I kind of knew it was in,” Leon Rice said. “It’s lucky, it’s not lucky, I don’t know. But the shooters have a better chance to make those than non-shooters.”
Said Max Rice, who finished with 10 points, “There was one second left on the clock so I just threw it up, and I definitely got lucky. It’s funny – I was coming back down the court and I saw this dude look like he was going to throw his hat at me so I blew him a kiss.”
Tyson Degenhart had 14 points and Chibuzo Agbo added 10 for the Broncos, who trailed 59-49 at the midway point of the second half before using a 1-3-1 zone to stifle the Aztecs and climb back into the game.
Boise State will now enjoy five days off before starting the Mountain West Tournament on Thursday night at 9:30 p.m. MT against the winner of the 6-11 game on Wednesday.
But first, they’ll root for New Mexico to win at Utah State on Saturday night to help them win a share of the league title.
“I’m going to be wearing my Lobo baseball shirt tomorrow,” Leon Rice joked. “I’m a Lobo fan. Sorry Utah State.”
