What head coach Leon Rice said after Boise State rallies, falls short at Colorado State

Jalen Lake canned a second-chance 3-pointer with 4.8 seconds remaining that lifted Colorado State to a 75-72 victory over visiting Boise State in Wednesday’s Mountain West Conference men’s basketball game. 

The Broncos (13-7, 5-4) trailed by 17 points midway through the second half before roaring back to take a 72-70 lead on a Tyson Degenhart triple with 69 seconds to play. 

Nique Clifford tied the game with a layup before Lake’s heroic shot. 

“I was really, really proud of our guys,” Boise State head coach Leon Rice said after the game. “I saw some things tonight out of some guys. We’re going to get it solved.

“I’m really proud of our team’s grit. We went through about a 10-minute stretch where we were just awful offensively. No rhythm. But like I said, we’re going to solve it.”

Degenhart scored a season-high 27 points for the Broncos, who have dropped three consecutive road games. 

Clifford paced the Rams (12-7, 6-2) with 20 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. 

Here are the highlights from Rice’s postgame radio interview. 

On continuing to shuffle starting lineup and rotations

“We’re going to get this done and we’re going to get better, but right now I’m just spinning the wheel on who’s playing. It’s just a guessing game because some guys play good one night, and then they don’t play good the next night. We just need consistency.

“I always say that when you go through tough times, you just go back to the basics. And the basics are, who is going to play really hard? Who is going to guard? Who is going to rebound? And it comes down to the last shot. If we get the rebound, we get a shot to win it.”

On not calling a timeout after Lake’s 3-pointer

“We had a play called in case they scored because if you take a timeout with four seconds to go, they’re just going to foul. So you’ve got to try to push it up and get a 3 off. And (Alvaro Cardenas’) 3 just hung on the rim that would’ve sent it to overtime. And Tyson’s 3 (on the previous possession) did the same, it rattled in and out. 

On Boise State’s struggling defense 

“Our individual defense isn’t good enough. And what happens is, they can just drive us. And when you can just drive at a guy, it breaks down the defense because now you’ve got to help. And (Colorado State) is a team that’s moving the ball, moving the ball and getting it to the open man. Credit to them, they shot it great tonight. But we got suckered into a few that we shouldn’t have gotten suckered into.”