What Boise State’s Leon Rice said about signature non-conference victory over Saint Mary’s

The Boise State men’s basketball team nearly squandered a late 14-point lead but held on for a 68-67 non-conference victory on Sunday over Saint Mary’s at Mountain America Center in Idaho Falls.

The Broncos (8-3) led 66-52 with 4:24 remaining after a Dylan Andrews three-pointer, but the Gaels (9-2) mounted a furious late rally in the neutral-site game. Andrews also had the game-sealing steal in the final seconds.

“They did about everything perfect in the last four minutes, and we did about everything imperfect,” Broncos head coach Leon Rice said. “They are good at managing end of games. Because they play at such a slow pace throughout the game, then they can switch pace and go faster, and we took the bait and kept fouling them.

“We live and we learn, that’s the greatest thing about this team. Because that game and that experience is going to help us, and it helps a lot more when we win it. It’s great to learn from that stuff.”

Drew Fielder led the Broncos with 22 points and six rebounds.

Paulius Murauskas paced Saint Mary’s with 21 points and 11 rebounds.

Boise State opens Mountain West play on Saturday at Nevada. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. at Lawlor Events Center.

Here are the highlights from Rice’s postgame comments.

On improved defensive effort, buy-in

“We have enough depth that if you’re not going to (defend), that guy will do it. That’s how you make guys better. Because sometimes they’ll listen, and they’re great kids … but when you have to go sit on the bench, now you’re really listening.”

On Gaels’ rim protection

“You have to attack Saint Mary’s different. We’ve got pretty strong guys and they go in and try to finish, and Saint Mary’s does such a good job of challenging them at the rim. As a coach and a player you’re like ‘Oh, that was a foul!’ When you go back and look at the film, most of them aren’t. They are physical, they go vertical and they challenge everything at the rim. Those aren’t high percentage shots; those are the ones they want you to take.

“We wanted to attack the paint and use Drew as a pop guy a lot. I told Drew ‘You’re a two guard this game. Pop, and we’ll play off you.’ And he did a great job of that. I mean he got in some good rhythm … and I could see him getting 40 in a game like that when he really gets going.”