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Monday, February 2, 2015.
Boise State will have to be at its level-best tomorrow night at Utah State, where it is 0-18 all-time. But coach Leon Rice has been pushing the right buttons on his roster during the Broncos’ five-game winning streak. Instinct is something you can’t teach, and Rice has recognized he needs instinctive decision-makers on the floor when the going gets tough against Mountain West opponents. Igor Hadziomerovic and Rob Heyer have instinct, and they’ve been getting massive minutes off the bench. Iggy just recorded only the second double-figure game of his career in a conference matchup—and the first in two years—when he put up 11 points in the win last Tuesday over Colorado State.
The most striking substitution versus CSU was that of seldom-used post Jake Ness, who Rice called in five times for a total of nine minutes on the night. Rice went with Ness over two of the guys who began the season ahead of him (way ahead of him), David Wacker and Kevin Allen. Neither Wacker nor Allen played against the Rams. In fact, Allen has appeared in only two games in the new year. There wasn’t much from Ness in the box score, although he did have a steal down the stretch. There’s not a column for taking charges, and the one Ness absorbed from Colorado State star J.J. Avila with 2:29 left may end up being the play of his career. That’s the one that brought a technical foul on CSU coach Larry Eustachy. The Rams led by five at that point but would make just one field goal the rest of the way.
Former Boise State running back Jay Ajayi (still strange to say “former”) will have an opportunity to show his stuff now at the NFL Combine. Ajayi tweeted Friday that he has received an invite to the gathering in Indianapolis later this month. He’ll be among more than 300 prospects who will go through the meat grinder of interviews, the bench press, and five on-field drills that will be scrutinized by executives, coaches, scouts and doctors from all 32 NFL teams.
NFLDraftScout.com rates Ajayi as the No. 6 running back in the 2015 NFL Draft and projects him as a second-round pick. There’s this from his player overview: “Ajayi has unreal balance to keep his feet with dynamic and explosive qualities needed for the next level to be dangerous any time he touches the ball. He refuses to go down with his low center of gravity to shoo off contact and keep motoring for chunk plays, accelerating to top speed in a flash. Ajayi is effective in the screen game with good focus as a pass catcher to make adjustments and secure with his hands, but needs to do a better job with his ball security to hold onto the football. His eye-opening production the past two seasons as a starter is impressive and he possesses an athletic and intuitive RB skill-set to be an effective player in the NFL with starter quality talent.”
The flurry is underway ahead of Wednesday’s National Letter of Intent Day, as Boise State picked up commitments from Marquis Hendrix and Matt Lochar over the weekend. Hendrix is a linebacker from Ocala, FL, while Lochar, also a linebacker, is from Los Alamitos, CA. Lochar’s a big one at 6-4, 250 pounds. Also, the Statesman reports that Garrett Collingham, the Mountain View quarterback who led the Mavericks to the state 5A championship game in November, has accepted a preferred walk-on spot with BSU over a scholarship offer from Idaho State.
Elsewhere, Boise State's Grant Hedrick didn't make the biggest of splashes in the College Gridiron Showcase in Arlington, TX, Saturday. In limited duty for the "Wranglers" squad, Hedrick was 3-for-5 for 10 yards with an interception and rushed twice for six yards. And Idaho has landed a commitment from Capital High wide receiver Tariq Littlejohn. In four years as a starter, Littlejohn shattered all of the Eagles' receiving records with 212 career catches for 3,046 yards and 38 touchdowns.
The Seattle Seahawks didn’t dance with the one who brung ‘em in the final minute of the game, and a shocking New England interception on what will go down as one of the poorest play calls in Super Bowl history took the world championship away last night. The Patriots’ 28-24 victory has left the Northwest numb. Jeron Johnson was noticeable on special teams for the Seahawks, flagged for running into the kicker on the Patriots' first possession. The former Boise State star got some face time on NBC. "He got away with one," said Al Michaels, noting that Johnson hit Ryan Allen's plant foot and should have been called for roughing. Johnson got into the box score with a tackle on a fourth quarter punt return.
The Idaho Steelheads had one good win sandwiched in between two forgettable losses on their road trip to Ontario. That came Friday night, when Olivier Roy stopped 28 of 29 shots while the Steelheads were solving the ECHL's No. 1 goalie, Joe Cannata, in a 4-1 victory. But the Reign, with Cannata's help, are the stingiest team in the ECHL, allowing 2½ goals per game, and that was relevant Saturday in a 4-1 Ontario win. The Reign and the Steelies are now tied in the ECHL Pacific Division—but they’re in second now, a point behind Colorado. Of concern to the Steelheads is an injury to Roy 1:16 into the second period Saturday night that forced him out of the game. Idaho returns to CenturyLink Arena ice Wednesday night against the Utah Grizzlies.
Graham DeLaet saw his first major payday of the 2014-15 PGA Tour season yesterday when he finished in a tie for seventh at the Phoenix Open. The former Boise State star shot a four-under 67 in the final round, stringing together four straight birdies on the back nine and pushing his earnings for the week to $211,050. Fellow former Bronco Troy Merritt made another cut in Phoenix. Merritt fired a three-under 68 yesterday, his best round of the tournament, and tied for 53rd to pocket $14,616.
More from the court: the Idaho Stampede are within shouting distance of a win game-in and game-out these days, but they can't seem to get there. The Stampede were swept in a weekend series at Austin and have now lost 23 of their past 24 games. The Stamps' road trip continues tonight at Delaware. The Idaho Vandals were on the cusp of a Big Sky upset Saturday night in Cheney when they blew an 11-point lead with a minute and a half left in regulation and lost to Eastern Washington in overtime, 98-95. And the College of Idaho men were solid in the front end of their weekend road trip, winning the NAIA Division II Game of the Week 78-65 at Concordia, but the Coyotes suffered their worst loss of the season Saturday night, falling 81-62 at Warner Pacific. The Yotes are now 21-4.
In women's gymnastics, Boise State defeated Utah State and UC Davis Friday night in Logan. But the big news was Ciera Perkins on vault, scoring the first perfect 10.0 by a Bronco in that event in 19 years and the first on any event in 13 years. The Bronco wrestling squad lost a heartbreaker in Bronco Gym yesterday as Stanford rallied for an 18-17 victory. The Boise State men’s tennis team avenged last week’s loss to Pepperdine with a 4-3 win over the Waves yesterday in Malibu. And the Bronco women’s swimming team finished its dual meet schedule Saturday with a dominating victory over Nevada.
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February 2, 2001: Equaling her own outdoor world record in the women’s pole vault, Pocatello’s Stacy Dragila sets a new indoor record by clearing 15 feet, 2¼ inches at the Millrose Games in New York. Women’s pole vault had become an Olympic-sanctioned event the year before, and Dragila had won the first-ever gold medal in Sydney. She was at the peak of her career and was easily the sport’s most popular performer.
(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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