Bronco ballers stop losing streak

The Boise State men’s basketball team saw its record tying seven-game losing streak come to an end Saturday night behind four players in double figures and a season high point total.

The Broncos avoided setting a new school record beating the Rice Owls 78-62 in front of 4,099 fans at the Pavilion, making it a season sweep of the Owls.

Four players reached double figures in scoring for the Broncos (9-14 overall, 3-10 Western Athletic Conference) led by Abe Jackson with 26. Bryan Defares put up 17 points and 11 rebounds and C.J. Williams had 13 points. Booker Nabors added 10 points and a game high six assists.

Boise State jumped out early despite the fact that Jackson started the game on the bench because of missing Friday’s practice with a deep thigh bruise.

“We started off aggressively and set the tone,” coach Rod Jensen said.

Boise State got out to a 22-9 lead with 9:33 left in the half and kept the lead into the second half. Jackson hit a three-pointer at the 15:38 point in the second half to give the Broncos a 51-36 advantage.

But Rice (9-14,4-9) promptly scored the next 10 points of the game and cut the Bronco lead to five 51-46 with 11:52 to play.

Unlike past games the Broncos put together some baskets of their own to stop the Owls run.

“We had baskets going in for the entirety of the game,” Jensen said. “That was important.”

Boise State went 22-of-26 from the free-throw line for the game, led by Defares who was a perfect 9-for-9. The Broncos also only had nine turnovers for the entire game and shot nearly 45 percent.

On Thursday night the Broncos had dropped their seventh straight losing to Tulsa 70-56 in the Pavilion.

Tulsa broke open a close game after the half when they went on a 28-14 run to start the second half.

Darrin Shindle

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