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Ellis’ record-breaking performance lifts Broncos to second round
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Jason Ellis showed fans in Reno Tuesday night what a man looks like when he has his back up against a wall.
The Boise State men’s basketball senior forward scored 22 points and grabbed a Western Athletic Conference tournament record 21 rebounds, leading the Broncos to a first round victory over Tulsa 83-73, in front of 2,546 at the Lawlor Events Center in Reno, Nev., allowing the Broncos to keep their season going for at least one more game.
The 8th seeded Broncos used a 19 point halftime lead to defeat Tulsa and will now play top-seeded and 24th ranked Nevada tonight at 9:30 p.m.
The play-in, first round game was do-or-die for Boise State. An up-and-down team all season put together one of their better performances versus the Hurricane.
The Broncos started hot, shooting 51.5 percent from the field before intermission, and all nine players who saw the court, scored at least three points.
Boise State drove to the basket, getting to the foul line 41 times on the night, despite the fact that they shot just 61 percent from the charity strike.
Ellis’ 22 points were just one shy of his career-high. His record setting rebounding performance broke an 11-year-old record set by Wyoming’s Theo Ratliff in 1994 against San Diego State.
Ellis’ previous career high in rebounds was 19, and the 21 are the most by a Bronco since Steve Wallace’s 21 in 1972.
Ellis also became the first Bronco to score 900 points and grab 900 rebounds in a career.
Jermaine Blackburn scored 15 points for the Broncos on Tuesday, shooting 4-5 from behind the three-point arc. Sophomore guard Eric Lane also scored 14 points as six different Broncos had at least two assists.
Tonight, the Broncos will have to put together one of their best all-around performances against the regular-season champs. Nevada finished the regular season at 24-5, and 16-2 in the WAC.
Nevada swept the season series against the Broncos. On Jan. 15, Nevada embarrassed the Broncos at Lawlor Events Center. On Feb, 10, the Broncos held Nevada to just 22 first half points, but then completely collapsed, as the Wolfpack outscored Boise State by 21 after halftime, beating them 84-66.
Sophomore forward Nick Fazekas will lead Nevada tonight against the Broncos. Fazekas was named the 2005 WAC Player of the Year on Sunday after averaging 21.5 points and 9.4 rebounds during the regular season.
Fazekas posted double-doubles in both games against Boise State this season.
Nevada swept all the major awards in the postseason. Along with Fazekas, first-year Head Coach Mark Fox won the Don Haskins Coach of the Year Award and Ramon Sessions was awarded the Freshman of the Year award.
In the other WAC play-in game Tuesday night, Hawaii beat San Jose State to advance to the early game tonight versus UTEP.
Arbiter Sports Staff
