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Nevada Scratches Out 77-69 Win Over Boise State, Advances To MW Semis
The Wolf Pack trailed big early, but responded in the second half to pick up the victory
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Martin twins combine for 29 as Nevada advances to the semis
LAS VEGAS, Nevada – It wasn’t pretty, but it works.
Jazz Johnson had 20 points, the Martin twins combined for 29 and Tre Thurman added 17 as Nevada responded to an early deficit to knock off Boise State 77-69 in the Mountain West Tournament quarterfinals.
In the early going, it was all Broncos. Boise State raced out to an early 20-7 advantage and extended the lead to 15 with 7:37 to go in the first half. Nevada managed to respond and close the half on a more positive note, trailing the heavy underdog Broncos 34-29 at the intermission.
The second period was far more back and forth. A Caleb Martin three-pointer with 18:27 to go gave the Wolf Pack its first lead of the day.
Trey Porter flushed a gorgeous alley-oop pass by Cody Martin later on, extending Nevada’s lead to 57-50. Boise State responded once more, though, using a 10-0 run and holding the Wolf Pack scoreless for the next four minutes.
Nevada simply had more answers down the stretch. With Boise State trailing by three late, Cody Martin hit a long, off-balance two-pointer in which he was trying to draw a foul but hit the basket anyway. The heavily-favored Wolf Pack team didn’t look back, using free throws down the stretch to pick up the victory and close out a Boise State squad that played its most complete game all year.
Nevada will take on the winner of San Diego State-UNLV in the semis on Friday.
Eli Boettger is the lead basketball writer at Mountain West Wire. He’s covered Mountain West basketball since 2015 and his work has been featured on Bleacher Report, NBC Sports, SB Nation, Yahoo Sports, MSN, and other platforms. Boettger is a current USBWA member.
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