Boise State beats perennial power St. Mary’s at packed Mountain American Center
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IDAHO FALLS — The Boise State University campus is more than 250 miles from Idaho Falls, but a massive blue and orange-clad crowd turned the Mountain America Center into ExtraMile Arena-East Saturday night when the Broncos played host to St. Mary’s.
It took a five-minute overtime period for Boise State (7-3) to take down the Gaels (9-2), 67-65, in front of 3,400 raucous fans.
“That was a great win. We’ve been struggling lately,” said freshman guard Julian Bowie, a Pocatello native and Pocatello High School alum.
Bowie was named the Idaho 4A Player of the Year in 2023 and 2024, leading the Thunder to a second-place finish at the State Tournament as a junior and a championship as a senior.
He scored two points and grabbed one rebound during a short stint in the first half but saw limited playing time after the halftime break. After the game, Bowie told EastIdahoNews.com that he was excited to be back on a court at home.
“It’s really amazing to come back,” he said. “I love east Idaho, they’ve been showing love to me my whole life and it’s great to come back and show love to them.”
He said that the crowd, which chanted “Boise-State” during nearly every break in action and stood screaming during big defensive possessions down the stretch, was great and “energized” the team, especially on the defensive end.
“It was loud at the end of the game, they got us some stops,” he said.
The Broncos, which had led most of the night, fell behind with 23 seconds remaining in regulation on clutch corner 3 from Mikey Lewis. After a pair of made free throws by Tyson Degenhart tied the game at 59-59 with 11 seconds left, the Bronco defense came up with one of its huge stops.
Augustas Marciulionis, who finished the game with a team-high 17 points, got the paint and had a layup for the win, but was turned away by a block from O’Mar Stanley, forcing overtime.
Degenhart led all players in scoring, with 19, while Stanley contributed 13 points to go with 11 rebounds, three blocks and three steals.
After falling behind early in the overtime period, Boise State continued to rely on defense to claim an advantage. Using the energy from the crowd, the Broncos ended regulation on a six-to-two run to claim a two-point victory.
The Broncos, who had lost two of their previous three games prior to Saturday, celebrated with fans as the final buzzer sounded on their win over a St. Mary’s team that has qualified for eight NCAA Tournaments since 2010.
Bowie spoke about the mentality of his team facing late adversity from a team with tournament pedigree, saying they “always keep going.”
“We keep going. No matter what, we fight through the adversity and keep going,” he said, adding that “a great win like this” can “definitely” propel the Broncos toward a potential conference run and a fourth consecutive tournament bid.
