What head coach Leon Rice said after Boise State’s win over Saint Mary’s

‘It’s always a fistfight with these guys,’ Rice said

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

The Boise State men’s basketball team picked up its biggest victory of the season Saturday night, knocking off Saint Mary’s in overtime, 67-65. 

“It’s always a fistfight with these guys,” Broncos head coach Leon Rice said after the neutral-site game in Idaho Falls. “The game had a lot of turns and back-and-forths. … Just a great game with a lot of little crazy things that happened.”

Senior forward Tyson Degenhart played 41 minutes and led the Broncos (7-3) with 19 points. O’Mar Stanley recorded a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. 

Augustas Marciulionis paced the Gaels (9-2) with 17 points and six assists. 

Boise State wraps up non-conference play Tuesday with a home game against Texas Southern (2-8). 

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

On pulling out a close win after losing to Washington State

“That’s the hard thing about athletics. Sometimes you do everything right, and (if) they hit another step-back three … that’s athletics. All of a sudden you don’t win this game, it doesn’t mean the sky is falling. But now you win the game and you feel great about it. They get rewarded for their work. It doesn’t mean we didn’t get better if one more (3-pointer) goes. We got a lot better this last week, I know that. Now, the great thing is, the great news is, we got rewarded for it. We’ve got two great preseason wins with Saint Mary’s (and Clemson). … That’s a really good basketball team we just beat.”

On Degenhart and Stanley succeeding against bigger forwards

“Because it wasn’t throwing it to them in the post. It was driving them, and driving them, and driving them. Those guys are great at contesting without fouling, but our guys … the only call that we didn’t get was when O’Mar got him in the air and went away from the contact. You got him in the air, go through the contact. That’s something where in a one-point game, one or two more free throws would help.”

On defeating a team like Saint Mary’s

“It doesn’t mean we’ve arrived. There are a lot of things we can get better at. We’re starting to figure out rotations a bit, and we’re feeling better about that. We just have to get all of our guys clicking and making each other better, and I thought we took a step forward in that tonight.”

On the experience of playing close games at the Cayman Islands Classic

“The more tight games you play, the better you get, the more confidence you get about it. Because you’ve got to know what your players will do in certain situations. Sometimes you think you know, but when the stress of a game, the stress of a moment like that … I’ve got guys that maybe over-think too much. That was kind of what I said to them at the one timeout. I was like ‘Hey, quit thinking and playing tight. We’re ballers, let’s go play.’ That’s when we took the lead back.”