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This Day In Sports…February 18, 2015, 10 years ago today:
Despite going 1-for-18 from three-point range, Boise State wins for the first time at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, rallying in the second half to beat UNLV 53-48. When the Broncos entered the Mountain West in 2011, the Rebels were among the conference’s elite, regularly filling the Thomas & Mack Center and just 21 years removed from a national championship. Boise State’s win over UNLV in the 2004 NIT was a big feather in the Broncos’ cap at the time.
By 2015, Boise State had jumped into the upper echelon of Mountain West hoops but had never won in Las Vegas. And the challenge this time was to do nab a landmark victory on the night UNLV was paying an emotional tribute to the late coach Jerry Tarkanian, who had died a week earlier. It was the legendary Tarkanian who had led the Rebels to that 1990 national title. Immediately following the Broncos-UNLV game, the lights on the Las Vegas Strip were dimmed for three minutes for only the ninth time ever in honor of Tarkanian.
Boise State started the game slowly. James Webb III hit a three-pointer less than three minutes into the game, but the Broncos would miss their ensuing 18 attempts from beyond the arc. The Rebels were as shaky as the Broncos, who held the hosts to 30 percent shooting on the night. The crowd of 13,675 flattened quickly after starting the game with energy following the emotional pregame ceremony honoring Tarkanian.
Still, Boise State was down by five points at halftime before clawing back. Webb and Nick Duncan and got it done on the boards, pulling down 11 and nine rebounds, respectively. The Broncos had a 47-36 advantage on the glass, and that was probably the difference in the game. It was the first time the Broncos had won in the Leon Rice era when not scoring 60 points.
Boise State added the Vegas milestone to its first-ever victories earlier in the season at The Pit in Albuquerque and the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum in Logan. The Broncos completed their “quadfecta” of road breakthroughs 10 days later with their first-ever victory over San Diego State at Viejas Arena. The Broncos have gone 15-5 versus UNLV since, including a sweep this season (which may come in handy as a tiebreaker to earn a first-round bye in the Mountain West tournament next month).
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
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