Broncos Lean on Stifling Defense to Down Aztecs

Thursday, March 13

Las Vegas, Nev.

3:30 PM MT

Boise State

23-9,14-6Mountain West

San Diego State

21-9,14-6Mountain West

Boise St.

San Diego St.

3/13/2025 7:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

LAS VEGAS — Boise State overcame an 11-point, first-half deficit and defeated San Diego State, 62-52, on Thursday in the quarterfinal round of the Mountain West Basketball Championship.

The Broncos (23-9) collected their 10th victory in the tournament since joining the conference prior to the 2011-12 NCAA season. Boise State snapped its two-game, head-to-head losing streak in the victory over San Diego State (21-9).

Four players scored in double figures led by Alvaro Cardenas, who registered a team-high 16 points. He added two rebounds and four assists, and logged over 37 minutes in the game.

Tyson Degenhart posted 14 points, seven rebounds and two steals, while Andrew Meadow had 12 points and seven boards of his own. Pearson Carmichael added 10 points and five rebounds.

Nick Boyd paced all scorers and recorded a game-high 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting. No other Aztec scored in double figures.

To start the game, San Diego State made two of its first four field goals and tallied the opening five points. The Broncos, however, responded in kind and scored the next nine to lead by four at the first media timeout.

Following the stoppage, the Aztecs scored 23 of the next 33 points and jumped out to a nine-point lead. Miles Byrd nailed a three at the 5:15 mark to make it a 28-19 game.

With 84 ticks to play in the frame, San Diego State pushed its lead to double figures. The Aztecs scored five straight points and increased their advantage to 11, representing the largest of the half.

Trailing by 11 towards the end of the period, the Broncos tallied the final six points. Degenhart and Cardenas poured in long balls on back-to-back possessions to slice the deficit to five.

In the first half, Boise State shot 31 percent and made just nine field goals. Conversely, San Diego State made 48 percent of its shots and were up by five at the intermission.

The second half began with Boise State scoring the first seven points. Three different Broncos collected a basket which propelled the team back in front, 35-33.

The majority of the second half featured little separation. For the first 15 minutes, five points was the largest lead for either team.

Boise State didn't collect its largest lead of the game until there was 19 seconds left to play. Degenhart knocked down a pair of free throws to put the Broncos up 11 which sealed the victory.

In the second half, Boise State leaned on its stifling defense. The team allowed just five field goals in the final 20 minutes and didn't surrender a basket in the final 9:11.

Boise State collected its second win of the season when shooting under 40 percent. The Broncos defeated Fresno State, 66-61, on March 1 despite shooting just 37.5 percent.

With a quick turnaround, Boise State will be back in action tomorrow night against No. 1 seed New Mexico. Airing live on CBS Sports Network, tip off is slated for 7:30 p.m. MT.

Notables:

Boise State improves to 14-20 all time against San Diego State, including 2-4 in Mountain West Basketball Championship games.

The Broncos collected their 10th victory in the conference tournament since joining the Mountain West prior to the 2011-12 NCAA season.

For the 11th time this season, Boise State held its opponent to fewer than 60 points.

The Broncos collected their 15th double-digit victory of the season and ninth against a conference foe.

Boise State tied a program record with 40 three-point attempts and made double-digit three-pointers for the fifth time this year.

Tyson Degenhart scored 14 points and is 18 away from surpassing Tanoka Beard as the program's all-time leading scorer.

Recording four assists, Alvaro Cardenas now has 589 career dimes. He is 11 away from becoming the sixth player in Mountain West history to reach 600.

Cardenas made a season-high four three-pointers.

RJ Keene II grabbed a team-high nine rebounds. He has grabbed at least nine rebounds in six games this year.

Andrew Meadow tied his career high with three steals.