BOISE, Idaho — Led by Marcus Shaver Jr.'s 19 points, the Boise State Broncos defeated the UNLV Rebels 73-69 Sunday night for their 21st win of the season.
Shaver also added five rebounds and four steals for the Broncos (21-6, 11-3 Mountain West Conference). Shaver was 8-for-8 from the free-throw line. One of those free throws, in the first half, put him over the 1,000-point mark for his career at Boise State.
"It means a lot, just being here at this program -- playing for Coach, my teammates -- means a lot," Shaver, a senior guard, said. "I didn't even know I had scored a thousand to be honest. I didn't know I was that close 'til 12 (Max Rice) told me... I'm happy, but there's other things we're trying to achieve here."
Shaver went 6-for-6 from the line in the final minute-and-a-half to help the Broncos clinch the win. As a senior, he has just five more guaranteed games with the Broncos -- four more regular-season games plus Boise State's Mountain West conference tournament opener. A longer run in the conference tournament and a possible NCAA tournament run, of course, would mean more time for Shaver in a Bronco uniform.
Max Rice scored 17 points while going 6 of 11 from the floor, including 2-for-5 from three-point range, and 3-for-5 from the free-throw line, and added eight rebounds. Sunday was the 11th game in which Rice reached double figures before halftime.
Naje Smith shot 4-of-6 from the field and hit all five of his free throws to finish with 13 points.
Also scoring in double figures was sophomore forward Tyson Degenhart, who tallied 11 points.
Elijah Harkless led the way for the Rebels (16-11, 5-10) with 14 points and two steals. UNLV also got 14 points from Shane Nowell. In addition, Jordan McCabe had nine points and two steals.
Boise State went into halftime ahead of UNLV 38-32. Rice scored 12 points in the half. Shaver led Boise State with 12 points in the second half. The Broncos were outscored by two points in the second half, but hung on for the victory.
"They're not perfect, and there are things I'd love that we could do better, but I always say that... We do the most important thing well, and that's finding a way to win. So I'm not going to nitpick about that," Boise State head coach Leon Rice said. "Yeah, we're trying to get better at a lot of the things we need to get better at, but what a great quality for a team to have, that winning character."
With Sunday's win, Boise State has won seven straight games against UNLV and eight of the last 10 meetings between the two teams.
Next up for Boise State: The Broncos host New Mexico Wednesday. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. in ExtraMile Arena. The game will be televised on FS1.
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