First place battle lives up to hype, but Bronco turnovers sink their chances in Reno

Final: Boise State 68, Nevada 74

First half

It was a fairly even affair in the first half with teams trading blows and 6 lead changes, but Nevada jacked up some quick threes in the last minute and a half to take their largest lead of the night into the locker room, 35-29. UNR’s Caleb Martin was feeling it, and he was responsible 3 of Nevada’s 6 first half 3-pointers and led all scorers at the half with 13. For the Broncos, both Hutchison and Sengfelder chipped in 8 but the team’s 17% 3-point shooting wasn’t going to get it done with the Wolf Pack dropping treys at a clip above 40%. The Broncos normal rebounding edge was there, as they were +8 at half time, but 9 turnovers hurt their chances to gain much momentum. Would the second half be better to the Broncos in the hostile Reno arena?

Second half

Broncos came blazing out of the locker room and took back the lead after a 12-0 run before Nevada finally stopped the bleeding. From there, it was the see-saw affair that many anticipated, with both teams going on their own runs to take, and then relinquish the lead. As usual, Hutchison was the man for the Broncos—pouring in a game-high 27, but unfortunately threw up an air ball on his last attempt of the night...a would-be three that would’ve given the Broncos the lead in the final minute. The Broncos had largely stanched the turnover bleeding in the 2nd half but committed two in the final minute and a half that pretty well sunk Boise State’s battleship. The Broncos. Caleb Martin had 26 and Jordan Caroline had 22 for the Wolf Pack—who did what they needed to down the stretch and weathered their in-conference storm for the 16th straight time. The Broncos come up just short, but the game lived up to its billing as MWC game of the year.

Stats of the game for anyone looking for a “why” on this Bronco loss: 14% from 3-point range...15 TOs.