San Diego State overcame a slow start to mount two big comebacks against Boise State Saturday only to fall short 42-37 at Viejas Arena.
Matt Bradley missed two threes in the final minute, while the Broncos scored the final seven points for the victory.
With the win, Boise State extended their win streak to 12 in a contest that matched two of the top defensive teams in the Mountain West.
“Credit to Boise, they defend like we do at a high level,” head coach Brian Dutcher told XTRA 1360.
The Aztecs (10-4, 2-1 MW) took their first lead of the game, 23-22, on two Trey Pulliam jumpers with a minute to go in the opening half. The second, after a shot-clock violation by Boise State, came with two seconds left
The Broncos (15-4, 6-0 MW) jumped out to a 6-0 lead to open the game. They held San Diego State, coming off a two-week COVID-induced layoff, scoreless for almost the first six minutes before Nathan Mensah broke through with a layup off an offensive rebound. Lamont Butler followed with a three after a steal by Aguek Arop.
SDSU tied it up three times, on shots by Butler, Bradley and Adam Seiko before finally slipping ahead.
The Aztecs went cold though after the break, only scoring a point – Arop made one of two free throw attempts – in the first 10 minutes of the period. The Broncos took advantage, building an 11-point lead, until Butler finally broke through with a layup with 9:48 to go.
But San Diego State started to chip away at the deficit, narrowing the gap to 35-34 on two shots each by Mensah and Bradley.
Then Butler came through with a three, capping a 13-0 run, in which the Aztecs, to emphasize the turnabout, silenced Boise State for 10 minutes.
But that was all for the Aztecs. The Broncos tied the game on free throws by Tyson Degenhart and after Bradley put up an airball, Marcus Shaver Jr. made a three-pointer with 30 seconds left to give his team the win.
Degenhart led all scorers with 14 points, while Butler and Mensah had 10 each.
The Aztecs hosts UNLV at 6 p.m. Monday, six days after the original game had to be postponed due to COVID issues for San Diego State.
