Broncos finish exhibition
season with a 73-67 win

 Boise State vs. NNU Photo Gallery

The Boise State men?s basketball team finally showed up on the court Thursday night at the Taco Bell Arena, beating Northwest Nazarene University 73-67.

Less than a week after a humiliating loss in front of the home crowd in their first exhibition game to Albertson College, the Broncos looked like a team, rather than a bunch of players. Senior center Jason Ellis led the team with 15 points, and pulled down eight rebounds in front of a crowd of 3,241.

"We were more ready for this game,? Ellis said. ?We got into it."

BSU head coach Greg Graham changed the lineup a bit for the Broncos to start the game. Last Thursday?s leading scorer Franco Harris was not in the starting lineup, instead starting newcomer Kareem Lloyd at the small forward position. Lloyd played extremely well, shooting six of seven from the field, scoring 13 points and grabbing a game-high nine rebounds for his second straight game scoring in double figures in his first season in Division I basketball.

"I'm not concerned with starting, I'm just concerned about what I do on the floor," Lloyd said.

Tempers flared early in the game for one of the Crusaders big men. Center Daniel Nyom was called for a technical foul after he ran up the court in anger after being called for an over the back foul. Ten minutes later he was called for another foul and slammed the ball on the court for which the ref then gave him another technical, throwing him out of the game with six minutes left in the half. The game was tied at that point, and the Broncos went on a 10-7 run, eight of those coming from sophomore Seth Robinson. The Broncos went into the half up three, 34-31.

The Crusaders once again came out firing from long distance after the half. Mesut Ademoglu and Ryan McCarthy scored the first 12 points for NNU in the second half, taking the lead with 15 minutes to play. NNU finished the game draining 11 three?s on the night.

From there, the Crusaders never took the lead again.

Senior Jermaine Blackburn looked at ease going to the hole, as he dunked twice on the night, the first giving the Broncos a late six point lead. His second dunk was followed up by an Eric Lane three-pointer that gave the Broncos a game-high lead of eight points with three to play.

"We played better,? Graham said. ?Our kids stepped up and came back."

On a last ditch effort for NNU, Eric Lane fouled David Lehrschall with 5.8 seconds on the clock when Lehrschall attempted a three, sending him to the line for three shots. He made all, and on the outlet pass Franco Harris fired a bullet pass from half court to Coby Karl who dunked it as time expired. The dunk exemplified the night for the Broncos, not because they made a statement, but rather to show that they are not willing to give up without a fight.

The Broncos spread the ball well throughout the game. Along with the three players in double figures, four others had at least seven points. Starting guards Eric Lane and Coby Karl both scored eight points, along with Robinson's eight, Franco Harris came off the bench to contribute seven points.

A major weak spot for the Broncos last season was their inability to get rebounds when Jason Ellis was not on the floor. However, Robinson, Blackburn and Lloyd accounted for 17 boards and gave Ellis a chance to work on his scoring.

"It's big knowing there are others grabbing rebounds," Ellis said. "It makes me feel comfortable that I don't need to crash all the time."

Trevor Horn
Sports Editor

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