Boise State boosts NCAA Tournament resume with victory over San Diego State

The Boise State men’s basketball team kept its late-season surge going on Tuesday with an 86-77 victory over San Diego State at ExtraMile Arena.

Drew Fielder scored a career-high 33 points to lead the Broncos (19-11, 11-8), who have won four straight games entering Saturday’s regular-season finale at Colorado State (19-10, 10-8). The Rams play at New Mexico (22-7, 13-5) on Wednesday.

Reese Dixon-Waters paced the slumping Aztecs (19-10, 13-6) with 23 points.

San Diego State has dropped four of its last five games and is in danger of missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019.

The Broncos will likely need to win the MWC Tournament to make their fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in five seasons.

Here are three takeaways from Tuesday’s victory.

Broncos flip the script

After falling behind by 24 points in the first meeting between the teams, Boise State got off to a quick start at ExtraMile Arena.

Javan Buchanan scored the game’s first five points and RJ Keene II then buried a three-pointer for an 8-2 advantage. Andrew Meadow, Aginaldo Neto and Pearson Carmichael each hit threes and Drew Fielder added another—the sixth Bronco to make a triple—as the lead swelled to 22-5.

The Aztecs, who edged Boise State in triple overtime back in January, answered with a 12-0 run and entered halftime down 34-27.

Back-to-back Meadow threes extended the lead to 46-31 early in the second half, and the Broncos cruised from there to secure a split with San Diego State.

Dominating the glass

Boise State pulled down 17 offensive rebounds in last weekend’s road rout of Fresno State, and the Broncos once again attacked the glass with ferocity against the Aztecs.

Led by Fielder’s nine boards, Boise State out-rebounded San Diego State 37-15.

The Broncos tallied 13 offensive rebounds in the January loss to San Diego State and grabbed 45 total boards to the Aztecs’ 38.

Boise State’s rebounding prowess could pay dividends with the MWC Tournament just around the corner.

Senior night festivities

Prior to Tuesday’s game, the Broncos honored four players during a senior night ceremony: Dylan Andrews, Dominic Parolin, Buchanan and Keene II. Andrews, Buchanan and Keene II are all regular starters while Parolin is Boise State’s top reserve big.

Geoff Grammer of the Albuquerque Journal reported that Keene II is the only MWC player participating in senior night festivities who spent his entire career at one school. Andrew (UCLA), Buchanan (Indiana Wesleyan) and Parolin (Lehigh) are all at their second stops.

Keene II redshirted as a true freshman and missed the following season due to injury. He is applying for a medical redshirt waiver and could be awarded a sixth year of eligibility.

Keene II entered Tuesday ranked sixth nationally with a 4.4 assists-to-turnover ratio.