Boise State secures fourth straight Mountain West victory over San Jose State

The Boise State men’s basketball team picked up its fourth straight Mountain West win on Tuesday at San Jose State.

The Broncos (13-8, 5-5) dominated the second half to earn an 89-58 victory over the Spartans (6-15, 1-9) at Provident Credit Union Event Center.

Boise State out-scored San Jose State 53-25 in the second half.

Five Broncos scored in double figures, led by Drew Fielder’s 16 points, eight rebounds and three assists.

Here are three takeaways from Boise State’s latest victory.

Bench mob elevates Broncos

Boise State’s bench showed up big in Saturday’s victory over Air Force with 56 points, led by Spencer Ahrens’ 18 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals.

The bench unit of Aginaldo Neto, Pearson Carmichael, Bhan Buom, Dominic Parolin and Ahrens helped the Broncos seize control against San Jose State during their first shift.

A Carmichael three-pointer followed by consecutive and-ones from Buom and Neto staked Boise State to a 17-9 advantage by the second media timeout. The Broncos led 36-33 at the break behind 15 bench points.

Consecutive buckets from Carmichael and Ahrens extended Boise State’s lead to 49-39 early in the second half. The Broncos poured it on from there en route to their fourth straight win.

Boise State’s bench ended the game with 41 points. Buom and Carmichael tallied 11 points apiece while Neto finished with nine points, four rebounds and five assists.

Spartans heat up, cool off from long range

San Jose State stayed in the game by knocking down shots from beyond the arc.

The Spartans went 6 of 9 on three-pointers to start the game and closed the opening half 6 of 12 from long range. Jermaine Washington then drilled a triple on the first possession of the second half to tie the game at 36.

Washington made four of the Spartans’ eight three-pointers. San Jose State cooled off over the final 15 minutes and finished the game 8 of 22 (36 percent) as a team.

Boise State wasn’t nearly as effective on threes (5 of 16, 31 percent) but went 33 of 56 (59 percent) overall from the floor.

Back to square one

After dropping to 1-5 in MWC play, Boise State surged up the conference standings while evening its conference record.

The Broncos now enter a critical five-game stretch that could make or break their season, beginning with Friday’s road matchup against Grand Canyon. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Mountain time.

Boise State will also travel to New Mexico and Utah State over the next three weeks with home matchups against Nevada and UNLV.

All five upcoming opponents are in the top half of the MWC standings. The Broncos are 1-4 against the group with a home victory over New Mexico, home losses to Grand Canyon and Utah State and road losses to Nevada and UNLV.