FRESNO, Calif. – In front of a crowd of 7,507, the largest this season at the Save Mart Center, Fresno State and Boise State went down to the wire before the Broncos pulled ahead in the final minutes to win 66-61 on Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs were outscored 10-2 during the final 4:04 of regulation.
Fresno State got a combined 50 points from its guard trio of Jasir Tremble (19), Brian Amuneke (17) and Zaon Collins (14). Tremble matched his season high in 30 minutes off the bench. The Broncos saw a game-high 22 points from Andrew Meadow and a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double from Tyson Degenhart.
Plus-nine on the glass (43-34), Boise State grabbed 17 offensive rebounds that resulted in the visitors holding a 21-12 advantage in second-chance points.
How It Happened
Trailing 5-2 through four-and-a-half minutes, Brian Amuneke got the Bulldogs' offense going. A string of six straight made shots by the 'Dogs, with three triples from Amuneke gave Fresno State a 17-13 lead with nearly nine minutes gone. A jumper from Jasir Tremble a minute later extended the advantage to six before Boise State answered back with a 14-2 run.
The Bulldogs closed the half with the final five points to head into the locker room trailing 27-26. The 'Dogs held the Broncos to 28.6 percent shooting but allowed eight second-chance points.
Fresno State regained the lead two minutes into the second half as Zaon Collins stripped Pearson Carmichael in the near midcourt and outran the Bronco to the other end for a layup as the 'Dogs went up 32-31. A pair at the line from Elijah Price pushed the lead to three but the Broncos countered with the next six.
Down three with under 14 minutes on the clock, Tremble got a friendly bounce on a 3-point attempt that saw the ball kick off the top of the backboard and drop in. A stop at the other end turned into a runout for the 'Dogs and Collins found Tremble on the opposite wing. Avoiding a defender, the junior stepped to his left and rattled in a trey to put Fresno State back up and forced Boise State to call a timeout with 12:40 remaining.
Alvaro Cardenas handed the lead back to the Broncos with two 3-pointers of his own. The lead changes continued 30 seconds later. A bucket from Amuneke was followed by an offensive rebound off a missed free throw. Tremble found the baseline and got to the cup as the 'Dogs went up 46-45.
A triple from Tyson Degenhart with 10:07 on the clock put the visitors back up 48-46. The 'Dogs leveled three times over the next two-and-a-half minutes before Price finished off a two-handed alley-oop from Collins.
A layup from Collins with 4:50 to go saw the 'Dogs take a 59-56 lead in the back-and-forth contest. It was the last points for the Bulldogs until the final seconds. Fresno State missed its next six field goals during an 8-0 Boise State run. The Broncos largest lead of the second half came on a jumper from Emmanuel Ugbo with 75 seconds left.
Notes
Fresno State lost its fifth straight home game by eight points or less.
The game saw 17 lead changes and was tied 10 times.
Fresno State was outrebounded for the 21st time this season, dropping to 2-19 in those games.
Jasir Tremble matched his season-high with 19 points for the third time.
Brian Amuneke scored 17 points, his seventh double-figure game in his last 11 outings.
Elijah Price grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. It was his eighth game this season with at least 10 rebounds.
Up Next
Fresno State will host Wyoming on Tuesday night. Tipoff at the Save Mart Center is scheduled for 7 p.m. PT and will stream on the Mountain West Network.