BOISE, Idaho — Max Rice was unstoppable for two and a half minutes against San Diego State University, scoring 12 straight points at the end of the game to flip a 60-52 Broncos deficit to a 64-60 lead. A pair of Marcus Shaver Jr. free throws were the last points of the game as Boise State upsets No. 18 ranked SDSU 66-60.
As the final buzzer sounded, hundreds of fans ran to the court to celebrate with their beloved Broncos, who not only beat the best team in the conference but pretty much did everything to punch their ticket to the NCAA tournament.
“I couldn’t dream of anything better than this," said Max Rice, about the game. "Sending out one of my best friends right here with a huge win that, in my opinion, secures us in the NCAA tournament. And if it doesn’t, there is a lot of things wrong with that tournament. but I think it does and it was just a great night.”
Over 12,000 fans attended the game creating an atmosphere that had rarely been seen before by Boise State basketball.
Because Max Rice carried such an offensive load, the defensive effort might go underappreciated, but the Aztecs did not score in the final five minutes of the game. Boise State forward Naje Smith says that the team collectively bought into the defensive end, in part because of the energy created in the stands.
"It just was a great surge of energy," Smith said. "It's kind of hard to explain. It's almost like a phenomenon where everyone is just kind of in it all together in one goal."
Smith had a great second half, including two huge three-point field goals to help cut the SDSU lead.
Boise State was dominant on the boards, out-rebounding SDSU 35-24. It was a complete turnaround from the last Boise State game when BSU got out-rebounded by 21 in a loss to San Jose State.
The turnaround stemmed likely in part from the conversation Leon Rice had with the team after their San Jose State loss.
"'Our issues are our issues until we fix them," Coach Rice said he told the team after the loss to San Jose State. "'There is going to be no emotion from me, I'm going to show you what we did wrong and then I'm going to leave the room and you guys decide what you want to do. Because you don't have a chance against San Diego State if you guys can't rebound with them."
Boise State is up to three Quad 1 victories after beating SDSU and they are ranked 26th in NET rankings. The team feels like they have put together an NCAA resume.
The team plays New Mexico State on Saturday to close out their regular season. Next Wednesday they'll head to Las Vegas to compete in the Mountain West Championship game.
To read more on the Broncos' season:
