San Jose State sneaks past Boise State 76-74

Share this: Email | Facebook | X

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Adrian Oliver scored a season-high 33 points, lifting San Jose State to a 76-74 victory over Boise State on Thursday night.

The Spartans (9-7, 2-2 WAC) snapped a 14-game losing streak in their series with Boise State. They beat the Broncos for just the second time in 21 tries and beat Boise State coach Greg Graham, a former San Jose State assistant, for the first time after 14 losses.

Making his first career start, Daequon Montreal led the Broncos (9-9, 0-5) with 19 points, while La'Shard Anderson had 15 and Ike Okoye 14.

Justin Graham scored 14 for the Spartans, and Robert Owens added 10 in his first start of the season.

San Jose State's only other victory over the Broncos came on Feb. 2, 2002, a 62-51 decision during Boise State's first season in the WAC.

The game was tied at 71 with 1:23 left on Montreal's put-back for Boise State.

Oliver quickly answered with two free throws, putting the Spartans back ahead, 73-71, but Anderson hit a 3-point shot from the left wing with 59 seconds left, giving Boise State a 74-73 edge.

Oliver got to the line again with 33.9 seconds left and hit two more free throws to put the Spartans on top 75-74.

After Anderson missed a 3-point shot, San Jose State's Mac Peterson rebounded, was fouled and made one of two from the line with 7.9 seconds left.

Boise State missed two more shots before the buzzer.

The Spartans, who were outrebounded 49-29, played without injured C.J. Webster, a 6-foot-9 forward who's averaging 10.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. He was poked in the right eye during the second half of Monday's game against Fresno State.

Owens, a 6-foot-3 guard, took Webster's place in the lineup as the Spartans went small, opening with four guards. Montreal, meanwhile, started in place of 6-foot-9 center Kurt Cunningham, who came off the bench for the first time this season.

Boise State's loss was its fifth straight. The Broncos' skid is their longest since a five-game losing streak in the 2004-05 season. Two seasons removed from an NCAA Tournament berth, they have dropped their first five WAC games for the first time since joining the conference in 2001.

Oliver went 9-for-19 from the field, 3-for-3 from long range and 12-for-12 at the line.

He came into the game averaging 20.1 points, third best in the WAC. In his previous eight games he averaged 24.1 points with a pair of showings in which he scored at least 30.

Oliver had 19 points by halftime against Boise State. He went 7-for-14 from the field and made all three of his 3-point shots and both of his free throws.

The last time the Spartans and Broncos met, Oliver scored a career-high 37 points, three points off the school record, in an 89-83 loss to Boise State on Feb. 7 in San Jose.

San Jose State's Graham had 11 first-half points, most of them on slicing drives to the hoop.

Montreal, who came off the bench to score a career-high 24 points against Fresno State on Jan. 2, led the Broncos with 11 first-half points, making 5 of 6 from the field, including a 3-pointer.