Boise State Bounces Back at Home with a 101-81 Win Against Northern Arizona

After a slow, and competitive, start in the first half Boise State pulls away from the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks with a 20-2 run to win the game101-81.

Drmic led all scorers in the first half with 17 points in a seesaw game that neither team could extend a lead past five. Drmic pushed the Broncos' effort by finding his groove and hitting 3-5 from behind the arc and 5-7 otherwise and 4-6 for free throws. He did, however, run into a bit of foul trouble under the four minute mark, fouling twice by 2:16.

James Webb III showed off his athleticism with five defensive rebounds, two blocks and a steal, but was 2-6 shooting from the field and missed his only three pointer.

In an interesting move, though Coach Leon Rice had confirmed a redshirt, Wacker saw his first minutes of the year. He made two points, two rebounds, and one foul in the half.

Mikey Thompson was 4-5 from the field and made his only three pointer of the half.

NAU, for their part early, matched up well with the Broncos. As a team they were 16-35 from the field, 6-13 on threes. They were also 6-6 for free throws. A point of contention in the Montana game was the vast difference in free throws. The Broncos had the advantage going into the half with six free throws for the Lumberjacks and 14 for the Broncos.

The Broncos went into the half with a 47-44 lead.

To open the second half, both teams decided to hit the threes. Drmic started the fun, draining a three thirty seconds into the half. Kaluna of the Lumberjacks responded in kind. Not to be outdone, Mikey Thompson added his own trey.

From there the Broncos started sliding away from the Lumberjacks with solid defense and Webb scoring the next three points--a dunk and going one for two on the line.

After a tight first half, the Broncos started applying the defensive pressure and clamp down on the looks Northern Arizona could get. The Lumberjacks had over a four minute scoring drought. The Broncos scored twelve points in a row to extend to their biggest lead of the night of 25. By the 9:18 mark Boise State was leading 80-55.

The Lumberjacks were not finished, though, and were able to get on a seven point run to close the gap 80-62 Broncos.

The Broncos had gotten sloppy with the ball and had two straight turnovers with 5:09 remaining that had led to five Lumberjack points. 87-73 Broncos.

The Broncos ended up pulling away from NAU ballooning their lead back up to 22 with a Paris Austin three.

In the Broncos took the opportunity to even up their overall record by beating NAU, 101-81.

Your Turn

Did you get a chance to watch the game? What do you think of the team? Impressed that Hutchison and Webb both got double-doubles? I am (but it doesn't take much).