Pulling off what seemed most improbable, No. 11 San Jose State made the grit look smooth and confident in a massive upset of No. 6 Boise State.

Leading for more than half the game and holding onto a double-digit lead for a good chunk of time, the Spartans won their fourth conference game of the year in the first round of the Credit Union 1 Mountain West Men’s Basketball Championship. They became the second 11-seed to win an MW tournament game (Wyoming, 2020).

Timely scoring from everywhere on the floor down the stretch, along with inhuman defensive effort, frustrated Boise State during any attempt at a comeback.

“We never doubted ourselves, even how the season went and non-conference went. We had a lot of skids, injuries, but we never stopped believing in ourselves,” Spartans guard Colby Garland said. “We keep working. We keep chopping wood every day. We get up, we fight and you saw it tonight on the court. We just got it done. Just happy that we got it done.”

On multiple occasions in the second half, the Broncos went on mini runs, but couldn’t cut their deficit to five or less after the 14-minute mark of the second half.

The largest lead was 16 at one point in the second half after a string of 3s from Sadraque Nganga and Jermaine Washington turned into an Adrian Myers layup and another Washington layup.

Five players amassed double digit points, led by the wonderful shot-making of Garland, who scored 22 points on 7-18 shooting and 7-7 from the free-throw line. He added three steals.

Washington, Garland’s backcourt accomplice, added 18 points and led all players with six assists.

“Those guys are all really important. We’re going to need everybody to do well. Five guys in double figures tonight. You know, that’s got to be our MO,” SJSU coach Tim Miles said. “If we just have two guys rolling and everybody else is kind of, like, standing there watching and not being a productive player, we’re in trouble.”

Defensively, the Spartans shined. As a team, they recorded five blocks and eight steals to Boise State’s four steals and no blocks. Most came as the lead was building and halted any momentum.

But perhaps one of the biggest difference makers came on the sideline. At a game at Air Force earlier this season, a close friend of Miles’s told him his bench looked “uninspired and not involved.” After that, he tasked guard JaVaughn Hannah, out for most of the season, with making sure he never receives a message like that again.

Late Wednesday night, the bench and support staff produced as many decibels per person as Thomas & Mack could handle.

“You could really notice it as we came back in the game against Wyoming (on March 7). We got way down and we came back. Then tonight I thought it was really good too, because a couple of those guys ran into me coming off the bench,” Miles said. “When the walk-on guys are apologizing for running into the coach, that’s always a good thing.”

San Jose State will play No. 3 New Mexico on Thursday evening.