Boise State Squeaks Past Nevada in a Thriller

Saturday, February 22

Reno, Nev. (Lawlor Events Center)

4 PM

Boise State

19-8,11-5Mountain West

Nevada

15-12,7-9Mountain West

Boise St.

Nevada

2/22/2025 7:25:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

RENO, Nev. — Overcoming a 10-point, first-half deficit, Boise State narrowly defeated Nevada, 70-69, on Saturday afternoon inside Lawlor Events Center.

Boise State (19-8, 11-5 Mountain West) collected its second consecutive victory and fourth on the road this season. Nevada (15-12, 7-9 MW) dropped its second consecutive game and are 10-5 at home.

Andrew Meadow led the way for the Broncos, scoring a career-high 24 points. He made a career-best eight field goals and added four rebounds and two steals in the win.

Javan Buchanan registered 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting and tied his career high with three steals. Tyson Degenhart pitched in with 14 points.

Kobe Sanders paced all players and totaled a game-high 30 points (13-19 FGs). Nick Davidson filled the stat sheet, posting 18 points, five rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks.

After Boise State scored the opening basket of the game, Nevada proceeded to tally seven consecutive points and led by five in the first three minutes. The Wolf Pack made four of their initial six shots from the floor and held a 10-4 advantage upon reaching the under 16-media timeout.

Aided by 4-of-13 shooting from Boise State at the start, Nevada played its way into a double-digit lead with 10:47 on the clock in the first half. Xavier DuSell scored on a driving layup, putting the Wolf Pack ahead by 10.

The Broncos, however, responded in kind and scored 17 of the next 24 points to even the score at 26. Meadow and Degenhart led the way, totaling 12 of the 17 for the Blue and Orange.

With 3:25 left to play in the half, Boise State captured its first lead of the game. Buchanan knocked down the team's fourth three-pointer of the period which put the Broncos on top by three.

Across the final four minutes, the game featured three ties and four lead changes. Buchanan capped the first-half scoring and recorded a lay up with 26 seconds remaining to break a 32-32 tie.

Meadow paced all players and scored 13 points in 16 first-half minutes. The Wolf Pack shot 50 percent as a team in the opening 20 minutes, but it was the Broncos who owned a two-point lead at the intermission.

Boise State tallied four quick points to start the second half, but Nevada answered with a 9-0 spurt of its own to jump back in front. The two teams seesawed back-and-forth with not much separation being garnered by either squad.

Trailing by one with 11:04 in the game, the Broncos rattled off seven straight points to jump ahead by six. Minutes later, Degenhart gave Boise State its largest lead of the game and extended the gap to eight on a pair of made free throws.

With the game coming down to the wire, the Wolf Pack erased the deficit with 59 ticks on the clock. Nevada regained the lead on a step-back jumper by Sanders.

On the ensuing possession, Alvaro Cardenas rebounded his own miss and converted a floater in the lane. It gave Boise State a one-point lead with just under 40 seconds left, and from there, the team secured its 19th win of the season.

The Broncos, who have three days between games, will return home on Wednesday night to take on Utah State. The game will be aired on FS1 with an 8:30 p.m. MT tip.

Notables:

Boise State improved 35-53 all time against Nevada and collected its 14th road win versus the Wolf Pack.

For the sixth consecutive year, the Broncos have won at least 11 conference games. The team has notched a 78-31 (.690) conference record in that span.

Andrew Meadow set career highs in points (24) and field goals (8).

Alvaro Cardenas registered nine assists and upped his season total to 186. He's 14 away from becoming the ninth player in Mountain West history to have a 200-assist season.

Cardenas has 558 career assists and is six away from tying Dairese Gary for fifth most in MW history.

Scoring 14 points, Tyson Degenhart now has 1,852 points. He needs 93 more to surpass Tanoka Beard for the most in program history.

RJ Keene led the team in rebounds (9), while Cardenas had a team-high nine assists. Cardenas has led the team in assists 26 times this season.

Javan Buchanan tied his career high with three steals in the game.