Presented by CLEARVIEW CLEANING.
Friday, February 6, 2015.
Boise State can visualize it. There’s an opportunity for a big crowd in Taco Bell Arena for the showdown Sunday versus San Diego State. The Broncos are riding a six-game streak and have pulled to within 1½ games of the lead in the Mountain West. The Aztecs are one of the teams they’re chasing. There’s also a bonafide star for the hom team now, as Derrick Marks is cruising through a stretch of brilliance unpredented in program history. This is a 4 p.m. tipoff, so it’s convenient for virtually everybody. So how many fans will turn out? This game deserves 10,000, but the bar has been set lower this year. The average is currently just 4,258. Check this out: Boise State’s largest crowd of the season was the 5,682 for Colorado State a week and a half ago. Last season’s average attendance—average—was 6,810.
The CSU game tipped off at 9 p.m., and that’s been a problem. A late start killed the number for the UNLV game last month, holding it to 4,387 (the three-game losing streak at the time was a factor, too). Hey, fans can make a difference. Here’s what the Broncos’ Mikey Thompson said about the atmosphere after the pivotal win over the Rams: “It was amazing because our crowd was in it. It changed the whole game for us. Once the crowd got into it we got into it, and we knew we had to fight, because this is our season and we want to make the best out of it. And it started with this game.” And that was with the house less than half-full.
The ability to finish has fueled Boise State’s run the past 3½ weeks. Now the Broncos face a team that has an unbelievable track record in finishing games. San Diego State has won 137 consecutive times when leading with five minutes to go. The streak now dates back five years. Nevada nearly ended it Wednesday night, though. The Wolf Pack’s Michael Perez airballed a three-pointer from the corner that teammate A.J. West almost tipped in at the buzzer to force overtime. SDSU survived, 65-63.
In the aftermath of National Letter of Intent Day, we note the attention Boise State coach Bryan Harsin paid in his press conference Wednesday to tight end Matt Pistone of Yuma. AZ. Harsin doesn’t like comparing new Broncos to former Bronco standouts, but he likened Pistone to Richie Brockel, currently a Carolina Panther. Like Pistone, Brockel was an Arizonan. He was one of the great team guys in program history, an articulate leader who executed flawlessly. “I really like that (Pistone) is very smart and can do a lot of different things,” said Harsin. Does that mean he’ll play fullback? It’ll be hard to have Pistone abandon the tight end spot, where he caught 74 passes for 1,036 yards and 26 touchdowns during his high school career.
Just like the number of stars next to a prospect’s name, team recruiting rankings have never meant much to the Boise State staff. It’s how the players develop that matters. But Scout.com’s final class rankings for 2015 show Boise State at No. 46. That’s by far the top spot in the Mountain West (San Diego State is No. 65). Interesting that Idaho came in at No. 111, ahead of the Mountain West’s Wyoming, Nevada, New Mexico, Hawaii and Colorado State (Colorado State?). Also notable, Washington’s class was ranked 23rd and BYU’s 56th.
Idaho coach Paul Petrino was on Idaho SportsTalk yesterday to talk about the Vandals’ 2015 recruiting class. He raved most about safety Trenton McGhee from Jacksonville, FL. Petrino called McGhee, a 6-0, 211-pounder, a “steal” for the Vandals and said he “could start right away.” McGhee was second-team all-state at the 4A level in Florida. Petrino was also excited about his trio of offensive linemen from three corners of the state of Idaho: Zion Dixon from Lake City High in Coeur d’Alene, Connor Vrba of Rocky Mountain High, and Tanner Mauseth out of Century High in Pocatello.
Boise’s Hailey Duke is scheduled to compete in the women’s slalom tomorrow at the World Championships in Beaver Creek, CO. The Capital High grad is a darkhorse to be sure, but just getting this far is a victory. Duke has battled back from the removal of a brain tumor two years ago, paying all her expenses on the World Cup and FIS circuits since in a quest to keep her ski career going. She secured her spot at Worlds when she was reclaimed by the U.S. Alpine team. When the competition is over, Duke will be on her own again for the rest of the season and will fund-raise through the Hailey Duke Project. To find out how you can help, visit HaileyDuke.com.
The first college baseball games of the season in the Treasure Valley are happening earlier than planned. Construction issues and weather woes have twice moved an early-season baseball tournament around the Northwest, finally settling on Nampa and Caldwell this weekend. The College of Idaho and Northwest Nazarene will co-host the five-team event today, tomorrow and Sunday. Also competing will be British Columbia, Concordia, and perennial NAIA power Lewis-Clark State, who was originally slated to host the tourney.
The Idaho Stampede are assured of a fifth consecutive losing season after their losses at Delaware on Tuesday and at Grand Rapids on Wednesday. Now, at 4-27, the Stampede try to avoid the worst record in D-League history. The Springfield Armor, an expansion franchise, had a 7-43 ledger in 2009-10. That means the Stamps will have to go 4-15 the rest of the way. They have a legit shot at a victory tonight in CenturyLink Arena against another struggling team, the 9-20 L.A. D-Fenders.
Other sports shorts: Troy Merritt shot an even-par 72 in the first round of the Farmers Insurance Open yesterday and sits in the middle of the pack. In fact, it was par city for the former Boise State star—he recorded just one birdie and one bogey on the day. The College of Idaho men’s basketball team, now No. 5 in NAIA Division II, plays at Eastern Oregon tonight. The Boise State wrestling team fell to Cal Poly 22-15 last night and faces Cal State Bakersfield at Centennial High tonight as part of the first Idaho Hall of Fame Classic. The event also features 30 of the top high school wrestlers in Idaho. And in women’s gymnastics, 15th-ranked Boise State faces BYU and Denver in Provo.
This Day In Sports…brought to you by ZAMZOW’S…nobody knows like Zamzow’s!
February 6, 1990, 25 years ago today: Brett Hull of the St. Louis Blues scores on a third period breakaway in a 6-4 win over Toronto, giving him 50 goals on the season. Brett’s legendary father, Bobby, is in the stands to welcome his son to the exclusive 50-goal club. The Golden Jet reached that milestone five times with the Chicago Black Hawks. Meanwhile, Brett’s brother Bart was getting ready for his junior season as a Boise State football player.
(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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