Buzzer beater: Undermanned Boise State hands Wyoming its first loss
The one guy on the court Wyoming didn't want to get the last shot got the last shot Wednesday and he made the previously perfect Cowboys pay.
Boise State junior Jeff Elorriaga, who leads the Mountain West Conference in 3-point shooting, caught a cross-court pass from Igor Hadziomerovic in the final seconds and fired a 3-pointer that found the nylon at the buzzer. The shot gave Boise State a 63-61 victory.
Boise State had only eight players available and used seven of them to knock No. 25 Wyoming from the ranks of the unbeaten. Duke, Michigan and Arizona are the only remaining undefeated teams in the nation.
The Broncos made the trip to Laramie without leading scorer Derrick Marks who was one of four players suspended indefinitely by coach Leon Rice for violating team rules. Mikey Thompson and Kenny Buckner, both regular contributors off the bench, also were suspended along with reserve big man Darrious Hamilton.
“I'm just so proud of the guys that we have,” Leon Rice told Root Sports on the court afterward. “We were down numbers. We had seven guys and they just battled their tales off. They got knocked down. They kept getting back up. (Wyoming) got a 10 point lead and they fought back. I couldn't be more proud of the way we played.”
Boise State led 60-59 with 9.1 seconds remaining and Wyoming guard Josh at the free throw line with two shots. Adams made both free throws to give the Cowboys and 61-60 advantage and Boise State took the ball out without calling timeout.
Hadziomerovic drove toward the baseline and passed cross court to Jeff Elorriaga who drained a 3-pointer over the outstretched hand of Riley Grabau to win the game. All 18 of Elorriaga's points in the game came from behind the arc.
“We executed that play perfectly,” Elorriaga said. “Just got lucky it went in. That's a good road win. That's a great team. The Mountain West is here. We're ready to go.”
It's going to be fun watching the Mountain West for the next two months. Six teams had already notched at least 12 wins before Wednesday, including both Boise State and Wyoming. The Broncos are now 13-2 and Wyoming is 13-1.
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