LAS VEGAS — Colby Garland had 22 points in San Jose State’s 84-74 win over sixth-seeded Boise State on Wednesday night in the Mountain West Conference tournament.
San Jose State (9-23, 3-17 Mountain West) plays No. 3 seed New Mexico in the quarterfinals at 8:30 p.m. Thursday after becoming just the second No. 11 seed to win in the Mountain West tournament.
Garland, who played all 40 minutes in the game, said the Spartans were confident they could pull off the upset well before tipoff.
“It started in shootaround and film this morning, so we had it the whole day,” said the guard who has topped 20 points in 11 straight games.
Garland had five rebounds and three steals for the Spartans. Jermaine Washington scored 18 points and added six assists. Adrian Myers went 6 of 11 from the field (1 for 4 from 3-point range) to finish with 14 points.
San Jose State outscored the Broncos 15-4 in points off turnovers and the 84 points were the Spartans’ highest total ever in a conference tournament game.
“I thought our defensive effort was terrific,” coach Tim Miles told reporters after the game. “We had eight steals, we were able to run off our defense and you could just see an energy level that was really good.”
Javan Buchanan led the Broncos (20-11, 12-8) in scoring, finishing with 28 points, 13 rebounds and two steals. Boise State also got 17 points and six rebounds from Andrew Meadow. Drew Fielder also had 12 points and six rebounds.
San Jose State entered halftime up 41-39. Washington paced the team in scoring in the first half with 10 points. San Jose State used a 12-2 second-half run to break a 43-43 tie and take the lead at 55-45 with 15:17 left in the half before finishing off the victory. Garland scored 13 second-half points.