What head coach Leon Rice said following Boise State’s home rout of Air Force

The Boise State men’s basketball team kept its hot streak going on Saturday with a 96-54 Mountain West home victory over Air Force.

Drew Fielder led the way with 20 points and eight rebounds for the Broncos (12-8, 4-5), who have won three straight games following a 1-5 start to MWC play. Spencer Ahrens added 18 points, five rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block off the bench.

Boise State shot 57 percent from the floor, 52 percent from beyond the arc and out-rebounded the Falcons 38-19. Twelve different Broncos scored in the blowout win.

“We haven’t had many games where we could do that,” Boise State head coach Leon Rice said. “I loved our guys’ approach from one through 12 because if your first five don’t have a great approach, then maybe you don’t get all those minutes for all these guys. … That was much, much needed.”

Kam Sanders paced the Falcons (3-17, 0-9) with 10 points and four rebounds. It was Air Force’s 13th consecutive loss.

Here are the highlights from Rice’s postgame comments.

On strong bench performance

“First of all, it makes your coach so happy because I see what these guys are doing every day in practice, like Bhan (Buom). He’s been practicing so good, so aggressive. Every day comes with a great attitude, and he hasn’t gotten the reward to be out on the court enough yet. Those guys have all been making progress and are a big key to this team. But to have a game like this where you get to get them out there, and not just get them out there and ‘Hey, please don’t screw up.’ Go play through some stuff, be aggressive. They got to do that, and that makes them better players and gives them a reward for all their hard work … and they’ll get better and better because of it.”

On increasing lead in second half

“I was proud of every minute and how we played. And we kept the intensity on, because you don’t have many more of these. I mean, you don’t have many opportunities. The year goes by so quick, and I think our team is practicing better than anybody right now. That’s what we’re taking pride in, so you want them to be rewarded for it, and you want it to show up on the floor.”

On gaining momentum

“It’s so important. This time of year, especially. Because you see a lot of teams going the other way and a lot of teams’ bench is just done. They’ve been grinding every day, they don’t see a path for themselves, they don’t see a future. So it causes a team to come apart, and all the other circumstances you get throughout a season. We don’t let our circumstances control us.”