Broncos surge back into first place with clutch win over Aggies

In front of the biggest crowd of the season* the Broncos men’s basketball team surged back into first place in the MWC by downing Utah State last night by a score of 79-70. It was a high-level chess match that most hoped for and expected as the teams traded the lead numerous times and rode top scorers Derrick Alston Jr. and Neemias Queta to the thunderous, if slightly muffled roar of nearly 700 fans. It was the Broncos’ 13th conference win and the one that put them tenuously back in first place in the conference, but they’ve got a rubber match against the Aggies tomorrow night and have to finish their season against a ranked San Diego State team with whom they’ve had a troubled past. Hey, enjoy it while you can, Bronco fans...this may or may not be an auto-bid squad we’re witnessing.

Derrick Alston Jr. is going to the league...and he dropped 26 on the Aggies last night—normally enough to secure player of the game, but Utah State’s Neemias Queta (32 points, 10 rebounds) is a bonified Monstar (and yes, I spelled that just as I intended to). Broncos inside presences Mladen Armus and Lukas Milner couldn’t contain the big man as he got to the rim time and again...even drawing a late foul by Armus that sent him to the bench (a soft foul mind you). For what it’s worth, Milner clamped down on the enormous Aggie in the final minutes and disrupted some of his shots. Still, I have reason to doubt Utah State’s story that they plucked Queta out of Portugal—I actually think it might’ve been a nuclear testing facility.

I know we’ve been somewhat AWOL this basketball season given the general awesomeness of this team, but with the end in sight their wins will become more and more important and last night’s went a long way in rinsing the Nevada taste out of our mouths. Whatever the tournament looks like this year, it would be a shame if the Broncos weren’t in it. Finish strong, boys.

Oh, and Boom-shaka-laka