In ‘pathetic’ showing, Boise State falls to Cal State Bakersfield in men’s basketball

As much as it must have pained him, Leon Rice called Boise State’s 46-39 loss to Cal State Bakersfield exactly what it was.

“Pathetic,” Rice said.

The Broncos shot a program-low 22.4% from the field and scored the fewest points by a Boise State team in Rice’s dozen years at the helm in a disastrous defeat Friday night at ExtraMile Arena.

The Roadrunners entered the contest ranked No. 242 on KenPom.com compared to Boise State’s No. 56 ranking. The Quadrant 4 loss is the last thing the Broncos want to see on their resume. They were coming off two victories in the Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic tournament, including over Ole Miss.

“In my 12 years, that was the worst offensive display I’ve seen,” Rice said. “I had an old coach that used to say, ‘You can’t make ‘em for ‘em,’ and boy, that’s what it felt like tonight. It started right from the start. We got some good looks, and they couldn’t get it in. The rim seemed like it got smaller and smaller. And by the end, we were playing on the carnival rims.”

The previous worst shooting percentage in program history was a 25% outing against Utah State in 1997. The Broncos also made just 6-of-32 from 3-point range (18.8%) against the Roadrunners (3-2) of the Big West Conference.

“You’re a Division I player and we were getting high school looks,” Rice said. “Like we were getting pretty open looks. And then we just did silly things. You can weather that whole storm if you step up and just make your free throws, and we go 7-for-13. Like I always say, two things that don’t last long is dogs that chase cars and teams that can’t shoot free throws. That was a close game, and we missed our free throws.”

Boise State fifth-year senior Abu Kigab tied the score at 36 by making 1-of-2 free-throw attempts with 3:14 remaining in the game. Then CSU Bakersfield guard Kaleb Higgins knocked down a pair of jumpers on back-to-back possessions for a 40-36 lead with 1:39 on the clock.

“Those were big shots over a big defender,” Rice said of Higgins, who is listed at a generous 5-foot-10 on the roster. “Credit to that kid. He did a nice job. He’s got a 6-8 guy on him and he just squares up and hits it. That’s impressive.”

Higgins’ buckets for the Roadrunners ended a scoring drought that lasted more than 5 minutes as Boise State made nine straight defensive stops, including forcing four turnovers.

“You get nine stops in a row, that’s got to be a 10-point swing, but I think it was a two-point swing,” Rice said.

Boise State called a timeout with 1:39 left hoping to regroup, but Kigab’s pass bounced off Mladen Armus’ foot and out of bounds. The Broncos went without a field goal from the 7:43 mark until Emmanuel Akot’s 3-pointer with 25.7 seconds left.

“We’ve got a chance to be really good because our defense is so good,” Rice said. “But you can’t win any games if you can’t put the ball in the hoop. I mean, that’s unreal.”

Devonaire Doutrive paced the Broncos with 15 points on 5-for-15 shooting. Kigab added nine points, Pavle Kuzmanovic had eight points and Armus was Boise State’s leading rebounder with nine. Five Boise State players combined to go 1-for-19 from the floor.

The Broncos (3-3) return to action Tuesday night for the second of three straight home games when Saint Louis (6-1) comes to ExtraMile Arena. Tipoff is 7 p.m., and the game will be streamed live on Stadium, which is available at watchstadium.com.

Note: Boise State did not make any players available to the media for postgame interviews.

WOMEN: LOUISIANA TECH 60, BOISE ST. 57

Boise State squandered a four-point lead with 1:28 remaining in its Rocky Mountain Hoops Classic opener Friday at CU Events Center in Boulder, Colorado.

Salma Bates sank a 3-pointer at the buzzer to complete the Techsters’ rally.

Boise State led 57-53 on a jumper by Rachel Bowers with 1:28 remaining and got the ball back when Trista Hull pulled down a rebound of a missed 3-pointer by Bates.

After Bowers missed a pair of free throws, Louisiana Tech’s Keiunna Walker cut the deficit in half on a pair of free throws with 29.9 seconds left.

The Broncos then failed to add any cushion to their lead when Anna Ostlie went 0-for-2 at the line with 26.9 seconds remaining. Louisiana Tech’s Amaya Brannon knotted the score at 57-all on a layup with 7.5 second left.

The Broncos went to sophomore Elodie Lalotte for the potential game winner, but Lalotte’s shot in the key rolled off the rim.

Louisiana Tech (4-1) grabbed the rebound and scrambled down the court, setting up Bates’ heroics.

Lalotte led the Broncos with 10 points and 10 rebounds for her second double-double of the season. Dominique Leonidas added nine points and five assists, and Ostlie and Hull had eight points apiece.

Boise State (1-3) continues play in the Rocky Mountain Hoops Classic on Saturday against Wisconsin at 3:30 p.m.

MEN: CSU BAKERSFIELD 46, BOISE STATE 39

BAKERSFIELD (3-2): Stith 3-6 0-0 6, Williams 2-7 2-2 7, Edler-Davis 3-4 0-0 7, McCall 1-3 0-2 2, Higgins 5-12 1-2 11, Henson 2-4 0-0 5, Reynolds 1-3 0-2 2, C.Smith 1-4 3-4 5, Collum 0-2 1-2 1, Panopio 0-1 0-0 0, Washington 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-46 7-14 46.

BOISE STATE (3-3): Armus 1-5 0-1 2, Kigab 3-12 3-4 9, Akot 2-6 0-0 5, Doutrive 5-15 2-6 15, Shaver 0-7 0-0 0, Kuzmanovic 2-6 2-2 8, N.Smith 0-4 0-0 0, Rice 0-1 0-0 0, Milner 0-0 0-0 0, Degenhart 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 13-58 7-13 39.

Halftime—CS Bakersfield 22-19. 3-Point Goals—CS Bakersfield 3-10 (Edler-Davis 1-1, Henson 1-2, Williams 1-4, C.Smith 0-1, Higgins 0-2), Boise St. 6-32 (Doutrive 3-10, Kuzmanovic 2-6, Akot 1-3, Rice 0-1, Degenhart 0-2, N.Smith 0-2, Shaver 0-3, Kigab 0-5). Rebounds—CS Bakersfield 35 (Edler-Davis 6), Boise St. 35 (Armus 9). Assists—CS Bakersfield 5 (Reynolds 2), Boise St. 5 (Shaver 2). Total Fouls—CS Bakersfield 18, Boise St. 12. A—7,429 (12,480).

WOMEN: LOUISIANA TECH 60, BOISE STATE 57

LOUISIANA TECH (4-1)

Anna Larr Roberson 8-17 1-2 17; Keiunna Walker 5-17 3-3 14; Salma Bates 4-10 1-2 11; Amaya Brannon 3-7 0-0 8; Lotte Sant 2-2 0-0 6; Silvia Nativi 1-3 0-0 2; Kate Thompson 1-4 0-0 2; Jadona Davis 0-0 0-0 0; Robyn Lee 0-6 0-0 0. Totals 24-66 5-7 60.

BOISE STATE (1-3)

Elodie Lalotte 5-11 0-0 10; Dominique Leonidas 4-7 1-1 9; Anna Ostlie 3-6 0-2 8; Trista Hull 4-9 0-0 8; Abby Muse 3-9 0-0 6; Rachel Bowers 3-5 0-2 6; Kaitlin Burgess 2-4 0-0 5; Mary Kay Naro 2-7 0-0 5; Jayda Clark 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-59 1-5 57.

Louisiana Tech................ 17 14 9 20 — 60

Boise St...................... 14 14 16 13 — 57

3-point goals — Louisiana Tech 7-15 (Bates 2-5; Sant 2-2; Brannon 2-4; Walker 1-2; Lee 0-1; Roberson 0-1), Boise St. 4-12 (Ostlie 2-4; Naro 1-4; Burgess 1-2; Leonidas 0-2). Fouled out — None. Rebounds — Louisiana Tech 38 (Roberson 13), Boise St. 38 (Lalotte 10). Assists — Louisiana Tech 15 (Bates 6), Boise St. 21 (Naro 6). Total fouls — Louisiana Tech 11, Boise St. 14. Technical fouls — None. A — 212.