The Broncos cruised to a win over the Utah Valley Wolverines 101-77 on Saturday in a much needed victory for the Broncos.
Coming off a big loss against Hawaii Pacific on Monday, Boise State looked to get back on track on Saturday in their second game of the season.
The Broncos got off to a fast start offensively, led by Boise native Drew Fielder scoring the first nine points, but had limited playing time throughout the rest of the first half because of early foul trouble.
“We wanted to have a fast start,” Fielder said after the game. “We’ve had some slow starts in our scrimmages and exhibitions. So, we wanted to come out, punch them in the mouth and I feel like we did that even though there’s a little room to grow”.
The Wolverines managed to stay within reach until the end of the first half, where true freshman Spencer Ahrens gave the Broncos a 46-35 lead with 27 seconds left. At halftime, Fielder and Ahrens led the team in scoring with 11 and 8.
After the break, the Bronco veterans stepped up and took over.
They never looked back, outscoring Utah Valley 55-42 in the second half. Fielder finished with 20 points and six rebounds, both team highs, while Andrew Meadow had 18 points and Ahrens closed with a career best of 19.
“The good teams will be player-led,” said head coach Leon Rice about the leadership and experience veteran players bring to the team. “And we had that this week, way better.”
Boise State shot 54.2% from the field and 45.5% from the arc after only shooting 30.3% from three in the season opener.
On top of scoring the most points in a game since 2023, the Broncos had a strong defensive outing, forcing 16 turnovers, including nine steals.
Utah Valley struggled to get multiple players involved, with only two players scoring more than ten points, Jackson Holcombe with 22 and Hayden Welling with 12.
Boise State looks forward to their next game against UT Rio Grande Valley at home on Nov. 11. The matchup against the Vaqueros will be the Broncos’ third game of their nine-game non-conference stretch to open the season.
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Good to see BSU bounce back after an unsettling loss to begin the season. They need to go into conference firing on all cylinders.