Boise State will face surging Lobos for third time in Mountain West quarterfinals
The No. 3 Boise State men’s basketball team will face No. 6 New Mexico in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Tournament on Thursday at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
New Mexico cruised past No. 11 Air Force 82-56 in the opening round on Wednesday. The Lobos (23-9) never trailed and were led by freshman JT Toppin, who finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds. It was his 11th double-double of the season.
Thursday’s matchup will mark the third time Boise State (22-9) and New Mexico have squared off this season. The Broncos won the first two games. They went to The Pit and earned an 86-78 win on Jan. 31, and they beat the Lobos 89-79 at ExtraMile Arena on March 2.
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New Mexico is led this season by a trio of talented guards and Toppin, who was named Mountain West Freshman of the Year by the media and shared the award with UNLV’s Dedan Thomas Jr. on the coaches’ all-conference team. Toppin was named Mountain West Freshman of the Week nine times, and he’s averaging 12.6 points and 8.8 rebounds.
The Lobos’ offense runs through its backcourt, which is led by graduate student Jaelen House and senior Jamal Mashburn Jr. New Mexico is also home to one of the conference’s top scoring point guards in sophomore Donovan Dent. He put up 31 points in the Broncos’ win at The Pit.
Mashburn leads the team this season with 15.1 points, and House and Dent both average 15 a game.
Boise State is led by Tyson Degenhart, who was named first-team All-Mountain West for the second year in a row on Tuesday. He was also Mountain West Freshman of the Year in 2021-22. Degenhart averages 16.2 points and six rebounds a night. He averaged 18.2 points a game in Mountain West play, which ranked No. 2 in the conference behind San Diego State’s Jaedon LeDee, who was named Player of the Year by conference media members.
Mountain West men’s tournament
(All times Mountain)
FIRST ROUND
Wednesday
No. 9 Fresno State 77, No. 8 Wyoming 73
No. 7 Colorado State 72, No. 10 San Jose State 62
No. 6 New Mexico 82, No. 11 Air Force 56
QUARTERFINALS
Thursday
No. 1 Utah State vs. No. 9 Fresno State, 1 p.m., CBS Sports Network
No. 4 UNLV vs. No. 5 San Diego State, 3:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network
No. 2 Nevada vs. No. 7 Colorado State, 7 p.m., CBS Sports Network
No. 3 Boise State vs. No. 6 New Mexico, 9:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network
