Owning the glass: 3 takeaways from Boise State’s Mountain West Tournament quarterfinal win over San Diego State

The Boise State men’s basketball team kept its NCAA Tournament hopes alive Thursday with a 62-52 victory over San Diego State in a Mountain West Tournament quarterfinal.

The fifth-seeded Broncos (23-9) and fourth-seeded Aztecs (21-9) both entered the game on the NCAA Tournament bubble. San Diego State swept the regular-season series between the teams.

Boise State will take on top-seeded New Mexico (26-6) at 7:30 p.m. Mountain time Friday in the semifinals.

Here are three takeaways from the Broncos’ hard-nosed win at Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

1. Broncos out-hustle Aztecs

In the first two matchups between the teams, Boise State was largely out-hustled and physically overmatched by San Diego State.

The Broncos flipped the script Thursday with one of their grittiest performances of the season.

Boise State won the rebounding battle 40-28 while grabbing 13 offensive boards, leading to 18 second-chance points. San Diego State only had four offensive rebounds.

On the defensive end, Boise State was active with eight steals and four blocks. The Broncos held San Diego State without a made field goal over the last 9:11 of play.

“What a defensive effort in the second half,” Boise State senior point guard Alvaro Cardenas said. “It was amazing. I want to shout out (RJ) Keene, because he made some huge plays, got on the floor. He gave us that extra energy. O’Mar Stanley was amazing. I’m super proud of the team.”

2. Broncos bomb away from long range

San Diego State center Magoon Gwath missed his fifth consecutive game due to injury, but the Broncos were still reluctant to test the Aztecs’ stout interior defense.

Boise State instead chose to fire up 3-pointer after 3-pointer, finishing the game 11 of 40 (27.5 percent) from long range. The Broncos went 8 of 16 from inside the arc.

The 40 3-pointers matched the single-game school record.

“It was part of the game plan,” Cardenas said. “Because I feel like a lot of times when you pass up an open shot against San Diego State, you end up turning it over or something like that. … It was the game plan in this game to attack those bigs and shoot the three.”

Boise State’s first 11 shots all came from 3-point range. The Broncos went 7 of 23 in the opening half, including back-to-back triples from Tyson Degenhart and Cardenas that turned a daunting 11-point deficit into a narrow 33-28 San Diego State halftime advantage.

The momentum carried over to the second half as Boise State seized the lead with a quick 7-0 run. The Broncos out-scored San Diego State 40-19 over the final 21-plus minutes of action to snap the Aztecs’ 17-game MWC Tournament quarterfinal winning streak.

3. Another balanced offensive effort

Over the back half of MWC play, Boise State utilized an offense-by-committee approach to great effect.

The trend continued Thursday as four different Broncos finished in double figures.

Cardenas led the way with 16 points and four assists while Degenhart (14 points, seven rebounds), Andrew Meadow (12 points, seven rebounds) and Pearson Carmichael (10 points, five rebounds) all made big offensive plays.

Degenhart, who has 1,927 career points, is tied with Steve Connor for third on Boise State’s all-time scoring list. The senior could overtake Tanoka Beard (1,944 points) and Anthony Drmic (1,942) during Friday’s matchup with New Mexico.