Hot First Half Drives Broncos

Wednesday, December 21

Taco Bell Arena

7:00 PM

Boise State

Cal State Northridge

12/21/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Dec. 21, 2016

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BOISE, Idaho- Boise State men's basketball closed its nonconference slate Wednesday, with a 79-62 win against Cal State Northridge at Taco Bell Arena. The Broncos (7-4) were fast out of the gate, using an early 21-1 run to build a 47-21 lead at halftime.

Chandler Hutchison and Paris Austin led the way with 20 points each. Hutchison added 11 rebounds for his fourth 20-and-10 performance of the season.

It is the first 20-point game of Austin's career. He did it on 6-of-13 shooting, while going 8-for-8 from the free throw line. The Broncos were 33-for-43 from the stripe as a team, their most made free throws in more than three years.

Darin Johnson led all scorers with 21 points for Cal State Northridge (3-9), which is still searching for its first road win of the year.

Boise State led 47-21 at halftime. The 26-point margin is Boise State's largest halftime lead of the season. It is the fifth time this season the Broncos have held an opponent to fewer than 30 points in the first half.

The Broncos led by as many as 27 in each half. CSUN (3-9) started the second half on an 11-3 run to cut the deficit to 18, but Boise State responded with a 9-0 spurt to push the lead back to 27.

In Leon Rice's seven seasons as head coach, Boise State is 45-2 in nonconference home games.

Boise State opens Mountain West play Dec. 28, at Utah State. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. MT and will be televised on ROOT Sports. The Broncos have won at Utah State each of the last two seasons, the first two road wins in the series in program history.