Boise State Makes Irvine Feel Like Unwelcome Guest

Boise State has a reputation for making it difficult for visiting teams in the Pavilion.

The Broncos won their 23rd game in the last 25 at home Thursday night by turning back UC Irvine, 73-61. But the Anteaters didn’t go away quietly against what might be the Big West Conference’s best team this season.

Boise State (10-3, 3-0) led by only five points with less than seven minutes left, but a turnover wiped out Irvine’s chance to make it closer.

The Anteaters had 23 turnovers to 13 for the Broncos.

“I liked the way our kids fought the whole game,” Irvine Coach Pat Douglass said. “We came on the road and played with some energy and enthusiasm. They were concerned at one point, but we bailed them out by letting them get to the foul line.”

Irvine (5-8, 1-2) was solid on defense, but Boise State’s free-throw shooting and the all-around play of swingman Roberto Bergersen was the difference.

Bergersen, the nation’s second-leading scorer, finished with a game-high 26 points. Bergersen made seven of 14 shots from the floor and 10 of 13 free throws.

“Bergersen is an outstanding player,” Douglass said. “They were able to post him up and get him to the foul line a lot in the second half.”

The Anteaters got a career-high 23 points from junior Marek Ondera, 17 from sophomore guard Jason Flowers and shot 46.8% from the field.

Boise State Coach Rod Jensen, however, was more impressed by Irvine’s defense.

“Any time you play good defense, you give yourself a chance to win, and Pat’s teams always play good defense,” Jensen said. “When you play defense like that, you can win any night.”

But Bergersen held it together for the Broncos in the final 10 minutes.

“He just kept chipping away,” Jensen said. “He didn’t show a whole lot tonight from the perimeter, but he still got a lot done. He doesn’t take bad shots and his overall game is so very solid.”

The Anteaters were without freshman guard Gabe Cagwin, who sat out the game under a one-game suspension for a violation of team rules. Sophomore center Stan Divranos remained sidelined for the eighth consecutive game because of back problems.

The Broncos shot 46.3% for the game. Boise State shot only 37.5% in the first half but led, 28-19, at halftime, helped by the fact that Irvine turned the ball over four times in the first four minutes and 13 times in the first half. Irvine was scoreless for nearly four minutes at the start and fell behind, 15-6, when Bergersen drilled two consecutive three-point shots. Irvine’s two starting forwards, Ben Jones and Adam Stetson, managed only five shots from the field between them in the first half and were held to a combined four points for the game.

Flowers kept the Anteaters in the game early in the second half with a three-pointer and two field goals, and Irvine still trailed by only seven points with slightly more than four minutes left.

“Our defense made some good stands, but we didn’t take advantage of it,” Flowers said.

Irvine fell to 0-6 on the road.

What will it take for Irvine to get a victory away from home?

“Any time you’re on the road, your seasoned players have to step up,” Douglass said. “Flowers has stepped up in back to back games now. That’s what it takes.

“We had some runs at [Boise State], but we couldn’t get the two or three stops needed to get us over the hump. But we’re learning all the time. We’re going to fight through this first half of the season, and we’ll fight to get into the league tournament.”