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Monday, March 3, 2014.
Anthony Drmic’s sprained ankle wouldn’t allow him to play at Wyoming Saturday. And at the outset, it looked like the Broncos’ mojo had unraveled. They fell behind 15-0 and 21-4 before Drmic’s replacement, Thomas Bropleh, started playing like his Australian teammate when he’s at his best. A trio of three-pointers by Bropleh launched the comeback, and Boise State narrowed the 17-point crevasse to six points at halftime. As the senior was on his way to tying his career high with 20 points, his teammates came from everywhere in the second half to key a 72-63 victory in Laramie. The Broncos took their biggest lead of the game with 6:15 left at 64-50. That not only capped a 30-10 second half run, it marked a 60-29 run since that dungeon they were in 6½ minutes into the game. After the debacle at Fresno State, that is resilience.
Coach Leon Rice said after the game that Derrick Marks was plagued by an infected wisdom tooth (that was to be removed today). Marks was just 1-for-5 from the floor at Wyoming and scored five points. So with Drmic out and Marks ineffective, the Broncos needed something else beyond Bropleh. On came Igor Hadziomerovic playing 23 minutes, his most since the first meeting with Wyoming in January. That was his last full game as a starter. Hadziomerovic scored nine points Saturday and hit his first three-pointer since the win over Portland State the night after Thanksgiving.
There were lots of startling stats in this one, but none moreso than rebounding. Boise State was being out-boarded at halftime 11-8, with Ryan Watkins logging only one rebound. Then the Broncos decimated Wyoming on the glass after the intermission, 23-7. Combine that with the fact BSU renewed its effort on defense, holding the Cowboys to 27 percent second half shooting, and the Pokes were sunk. Watkins finished with 12 boards, breaking the Mountain West single-season record for rebounds in conference games with 199. His first rebound against Nevada Wednesday night will make him the first player in Mountain West history with 200 points and 200 rebounds in conference games.
There’s one thing that would be eminently appropriate in the wake of Randy Trautman’s death. A decal with the numeral “70” on Boise State helmets this season. Trautman, who died over the weekend at the age of 53, was the symbol of the blue collar Bronco defense during the 1980 national championship season, emerging as he did after walking on out of Caldwell High in 1978. He was the 1981 Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year and is the only person out of Boise State ever to be named to the College Football Hall of Fame. Trautman attended the Broncos’ Varsity B Gridiron Social the night before the Blue & Orange Game last April and spoke to the crowd. He was obviously having health problems, but the large throng hung on his every word. Decal on the helmets—let’s do it.
Idaho released its 2014 football schedule Saturday, and it’s a globe-hopper. The opener is August 30 at Florida (the Vandals’ only payday game this year). But the return to a conference in 2014 means Mileage Plus. Idaho’s closest Sun Belt road trip is to Texas State in San Marcos, TX, 1,550 miles away as the crow flies. The season finale on November 29 sends the Vandals 1,950 miles to Appalachian State in Boone, NC.
On Saturday came a press release from the Idaho Steelheads stating that goaltender Josh Robinson had been reassigned to the team by Texas of the AHL. Robinson, who had been gone since Christmas, was supposed to give the Steelheads a boost. But the next two Idaho releases weren’t so rosy. The Steelies and Robinson were stopped by Las Vegas 3-1 Saturday night—and then the roof caved in yesterday in Bakersfield. The Condors scored four goals before the first period was even halfway gone, spurring coach Brad Ralph to pull Robinson in favor of Pat Nagle. Bakersfield tallied again less than 30 seconds after Nagle settled in, and it was 5-0. Five goals on seven shots by the Condors. The final was 7-1. Regroup time for the Steelheads when Las Vegas comes to town Wednesday night.
The Idaho Stampede unveiled three new faces, CJ Leslie, Darnell Lazare and Scott Machado, when they hosted Santa Cruz over the weekend. It wasn’t enough to get them over the top, though, as the Warriors swept the Stamps. Machado, facing the team he left just days earlier, scored 21 points combined in the two games. NBA eyes were looking elsewhere, though. Pierre Jackson may be gone, but a couple of Stamps are still getting plenty of props. The Stampede’s Kevin Murphy, who scored 56 points in the two games, is currently the sixth-rated NBA prospect in the D-League, with Dee Bost ninth. Sandwiched in between is one of the weekend’s victors, Santa Cruz’s Seth Curry at No. 8. Curry, the former Duke star, is averaging 19½ points per game.
Troy Merritt earned his first PGA Tour paycheck since October of 2011 with a tie for 46th yesterday at the Honda Classic. The former Boise State star held it together through the weekend, surviving the main cut Friday and the secondary one Saturday and playing even for the tournament. The two-under 68 he shot Thursday was his second-best round on the tour this year. Merritt takes home $15,600.
Out of the campus notebook, it almost seems like their destiny now. The College of Idaho men can taste the Cascade Conference hoops championship after rolling over Oregon Tech 77-57 in the semifinals Saturday night. The Coyotes host the title game tomorrow night in Caldwell against Northwest Christian. At Taco Bell Arena, the Boise State women got back at Wyoming for a January defeat by downing the Cowgirls, 72-59. With the win, the Broncos clinched a first-round bye at the Mountain West Tournament in Las Vegas next week.
The Boise State men’s tennis team lived up to its new No. 15 ranking Saturday by beating Washington 6-1. But the Broncos were upset Sunday at Oregon, 5-2. We’ll see what happens in the poll this week. The BSU women’s gymnastics team won its home meet against Iowa Friday night with its third-highest score ever, a 196.975, and tied a 13-year old record with a 49.50 on bars. It was not a banner weekend for the Bronco track and field teams at the Mountain West Indoor Track and Field Championships in Colorado Springs. The men finished sixth and the women fifth. BSU did take home two individual titles—from star distance runner Emma Bates in the 3,000 meters and Mackenzie Flanagan in the 60-meter dash. And the Boise State wrestling team finished third at the Pac-12 Championships at Stanford yesterday.
This Day In Sports…brought to you by COMMERCIAL TIRE…keeping you and your family on the road.
March 3, 1984, 30 years ago today: With the groundwork already laid for what would be a very successful Olympics in Los Angeles that summer, Peter Ueberroth is elected the commissioner of baseball effective October 1. Ueberroth’s accomplishments during his 4½ years in office were numerous—he avoided an umpires strike and a players strike, and negotiated the sport’s first billion-dollar TV contract. Ueberroth did, however, lose three large cases charging collusion between the commissioner and the owners. Did you know? Ueberroth graduated from San Jose State in 1959 with a degree in business.
(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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