Boise State men’s basketball has won games in a variety of ways this season.
There was a nail-biting overtime win, blowout victories both home and away, and moments of individual brilliance.
But sometimes it doesn’t take anything more than simply having a deep bench and fresh legs. That was the case Saturday afternoon in ExtraMile Arena, as Boise State (16-11, 8-8 Mountain West) defeated San Jose State (7-20, 2-14), which played just seven guys the entire game.
After a competitive first half that ended with a 36-31 lead for BSU, the Broncos’ depth eventually made the difference in an 84-69 victory.
Of the seven Spartans who saw the court, four played the full 40 minutes — an unheard-of stat in this day and age. One guy, Marcus Overstreet, played just three minutes.
“We knew we had to keep running them because they were limited on bodies, so that was a big emphasis from the start,” junior forward Andrew Meadow said. “And we knew that if we kept running the whole game, we’re gonna end up tiring them out.”
Meadow scored 16 points on 5-for-10 shooting and was one of four Broncos in double figures. Drew Fielder had a team-high 20 points, senior guard Dylan Andrews scored 12 and senior forward Javan Buchanan 11.
Ten Boise State players got minutes, and no one played more than Meadow’s 33.
How Saturday afternoon’s game played out wasn’t necessarily a surprise, because the same thing happened in San in late January. Boise State led just 36-33 at halftime before wearing down the Spartans for an 89-58 win.
But this time around, it seemed there might be a blowout in the first half. Boise State went on a 17-0 run to take a 17-2 lead after just six minutes.
But, as has been a theme this season, the Broncos let that slip. The Spartans rebounded with a couple of small runs and trailed just 31-29 late in the half.
“There’s always going to be a little bit of ebbs and flows in the game,” Fielder said. “But I think we just knew that we have to keep our foot on the pedal.”
Boise State coach Leon Rice has said multiple times in recent weeks that a big first-half lead is “fool’s gold,” and he said he was pleased to walk into the team huddle on Saturday and hear his team acknowledging that it could not ever relax.
The Spartans kept pace at the start of the second half, trailing just 41-39 at one point. But the Broncos cracked the game open for good with a 10-0 run to take a 57-43 lead.
And while the offense was flowing, the defense was suffocating a quickly tiring San Jose State squad.
The Spartans rank fourth in the Mountain West for 3-point percentage (36.6%) and hit 15 3-pointers in a surprising win over Nevada earlier this week. The Spartans also hit eight 3-pointers against the Broncos back in January.
This time around, they went just 4-for-23 (17.4%) from beyond the arc and just 1-for-10 in the second half. They were also held to just six assists all game.
“They’re seeking the three, and they got guys that can make them when you let them shoot,” Rice said. “And so that was really our emphasis.”
“Really happy with the progress there. Because if you’re letting teams just light you up from three with where we have been sometimes, I thought we did a pretty good job of getting to a lot of good contests.”
Boise State gets to stay home this weekend ahead of Tuesday’s home game against Wyoming (15-12, 6-10), another team below it in the Mountain West standings. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at ExtraMile Arena.
This story was originally published February 21, 2026 at 6:05 PM.
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Shaun Goodwin is the Boise State Athletics reporter for the Idaho Statesman, covering Broncos football, basketball and more. If you like stories like this, please consider supporting our work with a digital subscription.
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