San Diego State heads into a big showdown at 6 p.m. Friday at Viejas Arena as Boise State arrives with the Mountain West lead on the line.
The Broncos (18-5, 8-2 MW) have won three in a row, including a victory over Air Force Tuesday. Tyson Degenhart, Max Rice and Marcus Shaver Jr., each averaging more than 13 points a game, lead Boise State with Shaver adding an average of 6.3 rebounds and 4.2 assists.
SDSU also has a three-game losing streak against Boise State, having dropped three to the Broncos last season, including the MW tournament championship game.
The Aztecs (17-5, 8-2 MW), who had just returned to the Associated Press Top 25 at No. 22 and winners of four in a row, fell to Nevada (17-6, 7-3 MW).
San Diego State spread the scoring around Tuesday – Matt Bradley led the team with 16 points, following by Darrion Trammell with 10 – but Nevada’s top three scorers were hot. Jarod Lucas scored 26, followed by Will Baker with 19 and Kenan Blackshear with 18.
The Aztecs led by two at the half, but after the break, Nevada went up by as many as seven, before the teams played close for nearly the final 10 minutes. Bradley put SDSU up 60-59 with a three-pointer at 4:29 of the half, but that was the team’s final lead as Nevada went on to win, 75-66.
Nevada shot 65% in the second half – and Aguek Arop said “we just can’t have that happen.”
“You know, at San Diego State we’re known for our defense, and we keep letting teams score in the second half with high percentages,” Arop said. “We’ve just got to be better
and do better.”
With the loss SDSU split their season series against Nevada – they won the home contest 74-65 last month.