Boise State coach Leon Rice reacts to critical Mountain West win over Fresno State

The Boise State men’s basketball team picked up its third straight win in Mountain West play on Saturday at Fresno State.

The Broncos made 11 three-pointers and won the rebounding battle 44-30—including 17 offensive boards—in a 69-53 road victory over the Bulldogs at Save Mart Center.

Javan Buchanan carried the Broncos (18-11, 10-8) with 25 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Boise State finished 11 of 37 (30 percent) from beyond the arc while the Bulldogs (12-17, 6-12) made just three of their 18 three-point attempts.

DeShawn Gory led Fresno State with 20 points, 11 rebounds and two steals. Fresno State leading scorer Jake Heidbreder was held to three points.

“How about the job (RJ Keene II) did on Heidbreder,” Boise State head coach Leon Rice said. “That kid has been averaging about 20 a game lately, he’s one of the best shooters in the league, and RJ made just as many threes as him. … RJ takes him out of the game, that really hurt them. Because to beat us, they needed him to score his average.

“That’s what we’re getting a little bit better at. We’ve held some guys below their efficiency and below their average.”

Here are the highlights from Rice’s postgame comments.

On three-point barrage

“They committed a lot to taking the lane away from us. They were like ‘All right, we’re going to dare you,’ basically. We countered that—in the first half, especially—with a lot of offensive boards, but we … got five points off the offensive boards. You’ve got to capitalize on that.

“We did a way better job of establishing the paint in the second half, made a few adjustments, got the ball and drew the double team and were able to get some layins off of it. Then they were kind of halfway doubling because we got a layin when they did double, and that’s when Javan did some really good work.”

On rebounding margin

“They forced us into a lot of shots—a lot of threes, long shots—and we did a great job of attacking that ball, tipping it out when we couldn’t get the ball. Because you were like ‘Man, are we going to shoot all threes tonight?” But it’s OK if you do that if you’re getting second positions. Now, we’ve got to be a little more efficient on those second possessions and capitalize on that.

“We’ve had a lot of tough games in here, a lot of games where they’re frustrating and they’re hard. I thought our guys handled it really well.”