A complete effort: 3 takeaways from Boise State’s Mountain West romp over Air Force

The Boise State men’s basketball team extended its winning streak to five games Tuesday night with an 80-57 Mountain West Conference road victory over Air Force. 

The Broncos (22-8, 14-5), who are on the NCAA Tournament bubble, have won nine of their last 10 games. 

Here are three takeaways from Tuesday’s matchup with the Falcons (4-26, 1-18). 

1. No drama this time

Just like last weekend’s game at Fresno State, the Broncos got off to a rocky start at Clune Arena and trailed 8-2 at the first media timeout.

While the Fresno State game went down to the wire, Boise State quickly seized control against the Falcons. 

The Broncos ripped off a 19-3 run to turn an early deficit into a double-digit lead. Andrew Meadow had eight points during the scoring spurt while Pearson Carmichael added seven, including a 3-point play that made it a 21-11 game. 

Boise State later went on an 11-0 run and cruised into halftime with a 38-21 advantage. The Broncos never looked back as the lead swelled to as many as 35 points in the second half.

2. Balanced Broncos

Boise State continues to get offensive production from multiple sources. 

Carmichael (14 points, seven rebounds) and Meadow (14 points, five rebounds) led Boise State in scoring. Three other Broncos finished in double figures: Alvaro Cardenas (13 points, six assists, five rebounds), Tyson Degenhart (11 points) and O’Mar Stanley (10 points, three steals, three rebounds). 

Meadow, a sophomore forward, is averaging 19.3 points over his last four games. 

Cardenas picked up his 200th assist of the season when Stanley converted an early hook shot. The point guard has 205 assists and counting as a senior, extending his Boise State single-season record. 

In Boise State’s first matchup with Air Force, Cardenas recorded a career-high 12 assists. 

3. Starting lineup finally set?

For the fifth consecutive game, head coach Leon Rice used a starting five of guards Cardenas and Carmichael, forwards Degenhart and Meadow and center Emmanuel Ugbo. 

The lineup is now 5-0 after Tuesday’s victory. 

Cardenas and Degenhart — the Broncos’ most reliable contributors — have started all 30 games. Meadow isn’t far behind with 28 starts while Ugbo (12 starts) and Carmichael (five starts) are newer to the lineup. 

As Boise State limped to a 5-4 start in MWC play, Rice continued to tinker with the lineup. Ugbo received his first career start in a January game against Wyoming while Carmichael was inserted into the starting lineup following a mid-February blowout loss to San Diego State. 

Eleven different Broncos have started a game this season. Heading into Friday’s 8 p.m. Mountain time regular-season finale against Colorado State (21-9, 15-4), it appears Rice has finally found his starting five.