Boise State Basketball Recap: The Broncos Travel to Air Force

Much like their football team, Air Force basketball is scrappy and hard to prepare for. The Boise State basketball team learned this firsthand Tuesday night, as they fell 74-60 to the Falcons. The Broncos dealt with the same issues that they have faced the majority of the season: lack of depth, inconsistent scoring, and spotty rebounding.

One criticism of the Leon Rice era has been the Broncos inability to play with a lead, that proved to be the case again on Tuesday. Boise State started the game strong and built a double digit lead halfway through the first half. The Broncos lost all momentum later in the half when the Falcons went on a 13-0 run and made it a tie game going into the half.

The two teams battled for much of the second half, until the Broncos went through another shooting drought and ultimately the Falcons built an insurmountable lead. Leading scorers Alex Hobbs and Justinian Jessup struggled the majority of the night, combining to score only 16 points on 5 of 18 shooting. Derrick Alston broke out of his slump, scoring 24 points.

The story of the game was rebounding. Air Force finished the game with a 41 to 22 rebounding advantage over Boise State. The Bronco bigs continued to struggle on the boards as Zach Haney and David Wacker combined for only six rebounds. I know I sound like a broken record, but Boise State needs better play from Haney and Wacker if they have any hope of competing.

The Falcons were led by Lavelle Scottie (22 points) and A.J. Walker (18 points). Boise State will look to recover on Saturday night when they host the Wyoming Cowboys. The Broncos defeated the Cowboys in Laramie to open conference play a few weeks ago.