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Thursday, February 27, 2014.
Yes, “icy” and “sloppy” aptly decribes it. Boise State’s worst fears about Fresno State were realized last night in a 76-56 beatdown at the sleepy Save Mart Center. Not even Kentucky beat BSU by 20. It was the Broncos’ worst loss in over a year. They let it get away early, missing eight straight shots after Ryan Watkins opened the game with a bucket. Boise State went just 6-for-24 from the floor in the first half and trailed the Bulldogs by 21 points at the break. It got better for awhile after that, but three-point shooting was a disaster wire-to-wire, as the Broncos went 2-for-18—11 percent. At the other end, they never figured out Fresno State’s Marvelle Harris, who made his first eight field goals and didn’t miss a three or a free throw, scoring 26 points.
One omen for this one, beyond Fresno State’s win at Utah State last Saturday (something Boise State has never done), was the fact the Bulldogs had only three turnovers the entire game in Logan. The ‘Dogs turned it over only four times last night, while the Broncos were yielding 12 TOs. That’s not a tremendous amount, but Fresno State cashed in on nearly all of them. The Bulldogs had a whopping 21-2 advantage in points off turnovers. The other omen may have been the NCAA Tournament bubble talk cropping up again after Boise State’s three-game winning streak that was capped by the wild overtime win over UNLV last Saturday. The Broncos embrace the NCAA chatter, but it has to be a distraction. The Broncos did not look ready to play last night.
You can’t call him a saving grace, because nothing could save Boise State last night. But Mikey Thompson put up a career-high 21 points, going 7-for-10 from the field. Thompson also put his recent free throw struggles behind him, with a 7-for-9 game from the stripe. The performances by Anthomy Drmic and Derrick Marks were stunningly futile, though. Neither made a basket in the first half, and coach Leon Rice sat both of them out of halftime. Drmic, who didn’t hit a field goal all night and was seldom even close, didn’t come back in until almost 5½ minutes were gone. Marks didn’t reappear until 11½ minutes remained in the game when Drmic went out with an ankle injury. The duo combined for six points.
Well, it’s out there: the uphill climb Kellen Moore faces in taking a regular season NFL snap. No former Boise State quarterback has, and Moore, the best one there’s been, is at a crossroads going into his third year with Detroit. The Lions’ No. 2 QB, Shaun Hill, is expected to leave as a free agent, leaving just starter Matthew Stafford and Moore on the roster. General manager Martin Mayhew told Justin Rogers of mlive.com he’s not entirely comfortable with the prospect of Moore taking the field, but he won’t dismiss his intangibles. "I haven't seen enough of him in actual games to say that you just roll with him and you feel great about it," Mayhew said. "The idea of signing a veteran is appealing to us. However, he's done a lot of things in practice that make you feel like he's very capable." I just want to see Kellen take one NFL snap before it’s over.
Rob Linsmayer not only recorded his first two-goal game as an Idaho Steelhead last night, he finished off Alaska with a shootout tally that gave the Steelheads a 6-5 win. The 23-year-old forward was acquired in early December from the San Francisco Bulls (long before they went dark) and now has 10 goals in 27 games with Idaho. It was a tough night for both goalies—Alaska’s Gerald Coleman and the Steelies’ Pat Nagle each logged 30 saves on 35 attempts. But Nagle got the victory. The Steelheads won’t see the Aces again this season. Not until the Kelly Cup Playoffs, anyway.
In case you missed it, the ECHL’s Las Vegas Wranglers, whom the Steelheads visit tomorrow and Saturday, are moving to the top of a casino. The Wranglers’ lease at Orleans Arena isn’t going to be extended, so they were forced to go look for a new home, Vegas-style. They plan to spend $4 million to build a 3,500-seat venue on the roof of the Plaza Hotel and Casino about five miles north of the Strip and across the street from the Fremont Street Experience. It’ll be a metal structure wrapped in fabric. The location on the roof was once a parking garage, so it can hold the weight of the arena.
Troy Merritt gives it another shot today as he tees off in the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. The Boise State product’s return to the PGA Tour this season has been rugged—Merritt has missed the cut in all six of the events he’s played. Fellow former Bronco Graham DeLaet, with more than $1.4 million in earnings already in his pocket this season, will be back in action next week at the Cadillac Championship.
The Idaho Stampede are in the process of remaking themselves, and to that end they executed some deals yesterday. The Stampede got forward Darnell Lazare from the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and will give up their fourth round pick in the D-League Draft this fall. Lazare, a former LSU standout, has been with Fort Wayne since the beginning of the year and is averaging six points. From Erie comes forward CJ Leslie in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2014 Draft. The former North Carolina State star averaged 13.3 points with Erie. And the Stampede dealt the rights to last season’s top scorer, Justin Holiday, to Santa Cruz for guard Scott Machado, who’s averaging 9.6 points per game and spent some time last season with the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors. Santa Cruz will be in CenturyLink Arena for two games this weekend.
The College of Idaho men, ranked third nationally in NAIA Division II, pounded Eastern Oregon 92-65 to open the Cascade Conference Championships last night in Caldwell. It was the Coyotes’ first postseason win in eight years. The Yotes will host a semifinal game Saturday night. And the Boise State women rallied from an 18-point halftime deficit last night to tie Fresno State at the end and send their game into overtime. But the Bulldogs got the better of it from there and won 78-72 to drop the Broncos into third place in the Mountain West.
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February 27, 1959: Boston Celtic Bob Cousy destroys the previous NBA record of 21 assists in a game as he dishes out 28 in a 173-139 shellacking of the Minneapolis Lakers. The Celtics also set a mark for most points in a regulation regular season game, as Cousy scored 31 points and Tommy Heinsohn poured in 43. Their performance is all the more amazing in light of the fact the Celtics played without star center Bill Russell that night. Cousy’s standard would stand for 19 years. The current record for most assists in a game is 30, set by Scott Skiles of the Orlando Magic in 1990.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment Sunday nights at 10:30PM on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra and anchors five sports segments each weekday on 93.1 The Ticket. He also served as color commentator on KTVB’s telecasts of Boise State football for 14 seasons.)
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