Courtesy of Braidon Nourse
Andrew Meadow’s five-point stretch felt like a landslide when it mattered most.
1-8 from 3 for the first 39:12?
Big whoop. Shooters shoot. It turned into ball game after some free throws. With a 72-69 win, No. 5 Boise State shocked No. 1 New Mexico and its aims for a title defense in Friday’s first semifinal of the Credit Union 1 Mountain West Basketball Championship.
Down a point with just 48 seconds to go, Meadow caught and shot a 3-ball from the left wing to take a two-point lead. After getting a stop, the Broncos went to Meadow again on a touchdown pass down the court on a backcourt baseline out of bounds. He caught it with no one in front of him and slammed it with two hands, just to be sure.
The four-point lead proved to be too much for the Lobos to come back from. Meadow finished with 16 points and five rebounds.
“That was huge. That’s what we tell these guys: ‘Every miss increases your odds on the next one when you’re a great shooter,” Boise State coach Leon Rice said. “We want them shooting with confidence. You’ve got to make those timely ones, and you have to have some players who can step up and do it. We’ve got some guys like that.”
For most of the game, the show-stealer was Broncos forward Emmanuel Ugbo. After starting forward O’Mar Stanley got into early foul trouble — and stayed in it any time he subbed in — Ugbo was called upon for the role. And he starred.
His 25 minutes, 17 points and three blocks were all career highs for the sophomore. Adding five rebounds, he became the first player in tournament history to record those numbers off the bench.
“I just want to thank my teammates and coaches for trusting me,” Ugbo said. They tell me to stay ready. They have seen what I can do in practices and games before. Today, I just let it rip. Like coach always says, be ready because you never know when your chance is going to come. Today was my chance and I took it.”
On the other end, particularly in the first half, the Broncos did well to limit New Mexico’s biggest stars, Nelly Junior Joseph and Donovan Dent.
They finished with 19 and 23 points, respectively, and Dent single handedly kept it a game in the dying moments, but both of them seemed visibly frustrated at times during the first frame.
“(Dent) is just one of the best point guards in the country. You can’t guard him with one guy,” Rice said. “You’ve got to guard him with a team and sometimes that’s not enough. He’s a heck of a player and he’s had a great career there.
“You love competing against guys like that and we love these kinds of games. That’s what you live for as players and coaches, to be in these kinds of games. Our guys are embracing that.”
The win sets up the Broncos second ever trip to the MW championship game, their previous appearance was a win against San Diego State in 2022, against the winner of No. 2 Colorado State and No. 3 Utah State.
Ask Rice, and his Broncos live for this moment. What led them to victory against the Lobos tells you why.
“It’s the ability to respond to adversity,” Rice said. “The ability to get up off the floor, take some punches, get back up, go to your corner and then come out punching again. We’ve got a lot of that to us.”
