Utah State Shuts Down the Broncos

Boise State took a one-point lead over Utah State with slightly more than 12 minutes left in their semifinal game in the Big West Conference tournament Friday night in the Anaheim Convention Center.

But the layup by Abe Jackson produced the last points of the night for the Broncos.

Utah State’s defense was smothering down the stretch, and the Aggies scored 20 consecutive points for a 67-48 victory to advance to the tournament’s championship game.

“They just wore us out,” Boise State Coach Rod Jensen said. “We played a very good defensive basketball team, and they can make life miserable for you.

“When we got to that 10-minute mark, they just put us at arm’s length. At times, we couldn’t get a shot, much less make a shot. They smelled it then, and went for the jugular.”

The Broncos took 16 shots from the field in the final 11 minutes 12 seconds, but none fell in. The Aggies also forced six turnovers during that span.

It was the seventh time this season the Aggies have held an opponent to fewer than 50 points, and the second time in two days in the tournament. Cal State Fullerton scored only 43 in the first round.

Curtis Bobb led the Aggies with 17 points. Bernard Rock and Tony Brown each had 12 points, and Shawn Daniels finished with 10. Kejuan Woods led Boise State with 16 points, 10 of those in the first half.

Bobb said he was thinking more about his defense than his scoring. “Coach told us that defense was going to win this game for us,” Bobb said.

Utah State Coach Stew Morrill wasn’t happy with his team’s defense early. “We played much better defensively in the second half, and shored up some things,” Morrill said. “We were so hyped in the first half, we made errors switching and not blocking off.”

Things changed in the second half.

“At the timeouts we were yelling that we need some stops, and everyone bought into it,” Daniels said.

Daniels thought a turning point in the game came when Bobb hit a three-point shot from the corner with slightly more than seven minutes left that gave Utah State a 58-48 lead. “We got a lot of momentum off of that,” Daniels said.

Utah State, which led, 34-31, at halftime, made 10 of 20 shots from the field in the second half and finished at 46% for the game.