BOISE, Idaho — In a game against Nevada back in January, Max Rice put up an impressive scoring output of 29 points to push the Broncos to a win. But 29 is not 30. That extra point represents a boundary that, before Wednesday night, had only been reached by 7 Mountain West players this season.
So when Max Rice hit that mark on a free throw to secure the win against New Mexico, he turned around and smiled ... knowing full well what he had achieved.
"I think I felt it kind of coming on there," Rice said about the feeling he had shooting the final free throws. "I knew I had 28, I was still a little worried about the game but I knew if I made those it was looking good. So I was just focused in on making those and I got 30, so that was nice to have that accomplishment under my belt as well."
While the 30 points were notable, Rice said he was much happier those points resulted in an 82-77 win against New Mexico on Wednesday.
The win wasn't easy to come by as the Broncos trailed by 13 points late in the first half. But after a run to close out the first half fueled by Tyson Degenhart and Chibuzo Agbo, the team entered halftime down only six.
That left the door open for Rice who scored 22 of his 30 after halftime. It wasn't just on the offensive end though. New Mexico has one of the best scoring guard combinations in the country. Jamal Mashburn Jr., who is the best scorer in the Mountain West with almost 20 points a game, was held to seven points while shooting 2-15 from the field. Jalen House, who gets almost 17 points a game, still got 14 points but had to do so while shooting 4-14 from the field.
Head coach Leon Rice said he was proud of how his team responded.
"They punched us in the Jaw and a lot of teams would've went down and stayed down," Rice said. "We got up, shook it off, came out, and kept fighting."
The Broncos are locked into a championship race for the Mountain West title. Sitting one game behind first-place San Diego State, the team doesn't have much room for error in the last few games of the season. If they win each of their last three games, which would include a win against San Diego State at ExtraMile Arena on Tuesday, the team would win at least a share of the Mountain West Title.
"We worked all season long to get into this position," said Agbo. "You know it's the final stretch. I think we're just more locked in forever. We got a game on Saturday we're looking forward to it. Just locked in."
The Broncos will head to San Jose State on Saturday. The game tips off at 5 p.m. MT and to watch it on TV, you'll have to have access to NBC Sports Bay Area, or you can listen on KBOI 670 or 93.1 FM.
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