BOISE, Idaho — The Boise State Broncos cruised to a 75-63 victory over the Wyoming Cowboys on Saturday night in front of a large crowd at Extra Mile Arena.
The big question coming into the game was the health of Marcus Shaver Jr. He missed BSU's last game with an ankle injury, and the Broncos lost by 20 on the road against San Diego State without him.
However, the Broncos had more than a week to recover and Shaver scored 17 points, including 12 in the first half. The Broncos closed the first half on a 20-6 run.
Boise State dominated in the paint. They out-rebounded the Cowboys 34-19 while grabbing 12 offensive boards. Naje Smith led the charge in that department: he scored 18 while pulling down 10 rebounds.
All five Bronco starters were in double figures with Tyson Degenhart leading the way with 20 points, but the Broncos did not get a single point off the bench.
Some weird technical fouls happened at the end of the game including one on Max Rice and Lukas Milner. Wyoming's Jeremiah Oden also received one after it appeared he pushed Rice.
Oden hit four free throws to make the final score closer than it should have been, but the Broncos still came away with the victory.
Boise State improves to 19-6 on the season and 9-3 in the Mountain West. Boise State is in third place: a half a game behind Nevada and a game and a half behind San Diego State. BSU is half a game ahead of Utah State.
The Broncos play at Colorado State on Wednesday and then return home to Extra Mile Arena on Sunday when they host UNLV. BSU has six games left in the season.
The Boise State women also played on Saturday and they were defeated 76-63 by UNLV, who hasn't lost a conference game and is 20-2 on the season.
The BSU women are 8-6 in conference play which is good for fifth place. They play at Air Force on Thursday.
