Mountain West Tournament: Boise State Tops Nevada To Advance To Semifinals
Broncos move on to the net round
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Nevada’s season is over
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Boise State squeaks past Nevada, 71-69, advancing to the tournament semi-finals to face fourth-seeded Wyoming.
Both teams came out ready for battle in the semi-final game. At the U16 media timeout, Nevada would lead 12-9, shooting 71% from the field. Boise State would go 4-7 from the field early, scoring all of their points inside the paint. The Wolf Pack would keep the pressure on the Broncos, making nine of their first 11 shots from the field. Nevada would see an early 22-15 lead with 12 minutes left in the first half. Boise State would perform a complete 180 and closed the first half on an 18-5 run to put the Bronco’s up 38-33 at halftime. Boise State shot 60% from the field in the first half, compared to Nevada’s 46%.
Coming out onto the court for the second half, Boise State was able to continue the great offensive performance. After a continuing back and forth battle from both teams, the Broncos were able to jump to a 61-49 lead with just eight minutes left in the game. Grant Sherfield scored seven of the Wolf Pack’s next nine points to cut the lead to just four at 62-58 with 6:52 left to play in the game. Emmanuel Akot scored back-to-back baskets, including a three-pointer to pull away a bit. The Broncos led 67-60 with just under five minutes left in the game. Warren Washington went to the free-throw line with four minutes left to bring the game to within three. With 90 seconds left in the game, Desmond Cambridge Jr. hit a layup to bring the game to within two, 71-69. Unfortunately for Nevada, that is the score the game would at, following a missed last-minute three-point attempt by Kenan Blackshear.
Boise State was led by their third-leading scorer, Emmanuel Akot. Akot finished with 22 points in-game and proved to be too much for Nevada to handle. The 6’8 guard went 8-15 from the field, adding in four triples as well. Also finishing in double digits for the Broncos were Marcus Shaver Jr. and Abu Kigab who finished with 15 points and 11 points respectively. For Nevada, it was no other than Grant Sherfield leading the way. Sherfield finished with 25 points on 50% shooting from the field and added six assists to the game total. Desmond Cambridge Jr. finished with 16 points, while Warren Washington added 13 points to give Sherfield some help on the offensive end. Nevada finished shooting 44% from the field but struggled shooting the ball from deep, finishing 6-21 from beyond the arc.
Up next for Boise State, the Broncos face the fourth-seeded Wyoming Cowboys Friday at 6:30 PM PST.
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