What head coach Leon Rice said after Boise State’s win over Air Force to open Mountain West play

‘You just have to keep sawing wood … and then all of a sudden you can have a 10-0 run that changes the game,’ Rice said

Boise State Broncos head coach Leon Rice. / Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

The Boise State men’s basketball team pulled away in the second half to defeat Air Force, 77-59, in Saturday’s Mountain West Conference opener at ExtraMile Arena.

The Broncos (9-3, 1-0) led 32-31 at the break before outscoring Air Force (3-9, 0-1) 45-28 over the final 20 minutes of play. 

“You can’t panic in these situations with them because they can keep themselves in the game and keep things close,” Broncos head coach Leon Rice said after the game. “You just have to keep sawing wood … and then all of a sudden you can have a 10-0 run that changes the game. I think that’s what we did in the second half.”

Alvaro Cardenas had 15 points and a career-high 12 assists — 10 in the second half — to lead Boise State. Cardenas was one assist away from matching Bryan Defares’ single-game school record of 13 set in 2004 against UNLV.

“And we had him unofficially for 13; there is one that we want to contest,” Rice said. “He did not get an assist for Andrew Meadow’s and-one. … That one could be an assist, so he could’ve tied the record tonight.”

Tyson Degenhart finished with 19 points and six rebounds. 

Boise State continues MWC play next Saturday with a road game at San Jose State. 

Here are the highlights from Rice’s postgame radio interview: 

On the two main adjustments Boise State made at halftime

“We adjusted what we were doing against their press and made them pay for pressing. They got some free presses up there, but we flashed them up at the ball and then hit (Cardenas) on the run. So we made them pay for extending their defense a little bit, and then we started switching some stuff defensively. We did a little bit better job of keeping them in front of us.”

On Cardenas distributing the ball 

“When you get 12 assists, you are usually leaving three or four on the table where a guy has an open shot maybe and missed. When we start clicking from three and from two and get the offensive explosion that I feel is coming, you’re going to see him end up with about 15 assists.” 

On shooting 63 percent from inside the arc

“We have a lot of guys who can score around the basket and have great touch and are good free throw shooters like Tyson. Javan (Buchanan) is one of the best block scorers for a (guard). So we can find a mismatch.”

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