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Broncos fail to execute, lose to Rainbow Warriors
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Hawaii had not won a game away from the friendly confines of the island this season, and 10 straight losses dating back to last year.
Well, until Saturday night.
Boise State let an early 13-point lead slip away as Hawaii took control and beat the Broncos 73-64 on Saturday in front of 4,140 fans at Taco Bell Arena.
“That’s a tough one. We came out of the shoot in a hurry and started off well and then we slowed down and they got control,” Boise State head coach Greg Graham said.
The opening seven minutes looked promising for Graham and his team. Up 19-6, six Broncos scored, but then it all slipped away.
“I think we lost some energy. We had some deficiencies in running our offense and we had some defensive breakdowns. Hawaii played a well-coached game. They did what they had to do,” Coby Karl said. Karl scored a game-high 26 points for Boise State, but only senior forward Kareem Lloyd complimented Karl’s scoring with 11 points-the only two players in double figures for Boise State.
The theme of the night for Boise State following the loss when talking to the local media was the lack of consistency, yet, a feel that this team is better than the outcome of Saturday’s game.
“Everyone on our team is good enough to score the ball. They’re here for a reason. Everyone’s good players, it’s just for some reason we lack confidence and we lack energy,” Karl said.
One inconsistency cleaned up was the number of turnovers for Boise State. The Broncos were averaging 18.2 turnovers per game over the previous five games, including eight by Karl on Thursday night on the road against Louisiana Tech.
Saturday, the Broncos turned the ball over just eight times as a team.
But, instead of being able to capitalize off the above average ball handling, Boise State shot just 38.7 percent from the field, including just 8-28 from behind the three-point line.
“That’s the trademark of an inconsistent team-something always gets you,”
Graham said.
It wasn’t just Graham who stated that inconsistency is the problem for Boise State this season.
“We struggled with it and we just haven’t found and answer to it-it’s going to come down to players sucking it up and getting the job done,” Lloyd said. Lloyd also grabbed 11 rebounds for his first career double-double at Boise State.
The Broncos (12-11 overall, 5-7 Western Athletic Conference) now find themselves in sixth place in the conference despite being able to hang with La Tech and Nevada at home, and almost knocking off Utah State on the road.
“It sucks and it hurts too,” Lloyd said. “That’s just been a big burden. Coach has always been harping on us that we seem to back down to the better teams in the conference and, you know, I just don’t have any answers. I’m not sure what the guys are thinking on the team. I can say I am focused and I am determined to get the win, but you just don’t produce and
our record shows it.”
The Broncos could look to a six-minute stretch between the first and second half where the team went without a field goal as to where the inconsistency lies.
Up five with four minutes to play in the first half, Hawaii finished out with a 9-0 run to end the half. Just two Karl free throws in the first 2:54 of the second half, and Hawaii went on a 17-2 run and took a
10-point lead.
“We have to take it upon ourselves individually to step up and make better plays and play with more energy and make rebounds and getting each others backs because it’s definitely a team effort,” Karl said.
Boise State was able to get the score within four points with 1:17 left in the game on a gigantic heave of a shot by Karl, but Julian Sensley (22 points) answered with a trey of his own to seal the win for the Rainbow Warriors.
“We just need to sustain what we are doing for longer periods of time,” Graham said. “It’s not a thing of being able to compete or play at the level-we can do that. We need to sustain our effort and our level of play for longer periods of time.”
Trevor Horn
Sports Editor
