BOISE, Idaho — THIS DAY IN SPORTS…February 9, 2019, five years ago today:
First, Alex Hobbs hits a three-pointer. Then Marcus Dickinson makes a three. Then Justinian Jessup. And then Derrick Alston Jr. When Alston drained a second trey, Boise State was up 15-0 and was off to the races in 105-57 romp over San Jose State, and they were opening the record book on media row. Alston was just getting started, as he poured in a career-high 33 points. He was about as efficient as you can get, going 12-for-15 from the field, 5-for-7 from three-point land and 4-for-4 from the free throw line. All in 28 minutes. This from a sophomore who had played a grand total of 26 minutes as a freshman and had scored only seven points.
That would remain Alston’s personal-best—he had three other 30-point games in a four-year career that saw him 1,479 points. He went on to sign with the Golden State Warriors as an undrafted free agent in 2021 and played in the NBA Summer League. Alston then caught on with the Utah Jazz and spent a season with their G League team, the Salt Lake City Stars (formerly the Idaho Stampede). He’s currently in his second season with the Rostock Seawolves of Basketball Bundesliga, the top professional league in Germany.
The 105 points versus San Jose State came courtesy of a 63 percent shooting night that included 15 three-pointers. It marked Boise State’s most points ever in a Mountain West game to that point—and its most versus a conference opponent since beating New Mexico State 107-102 in triple-overtime in the 2008 WAC championship game. It was also the Broncos’ highest-scoring effort in a non-overtime conference game in 44 years, since a 105-92 win over Montana State in 1975. Boise State would eclipse that in a 106-54 romp over SJSU on New Year’s Eve, 2020.
The rout of the Spartans came in the midst of a difficult season that coach Leon Rice called a “transformation year.” Indeed, it turned out to be the Broncos’ only 20-loss season in their history (13-20). The following season Boise State was 20-12 and probably would have been in the NIT had not COVID brought sports to a standstill. Then the Broncos made the 2021 NIT quarterfinals in Alston’s senior year. The past two seasons, of course, they’ve advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Boise State is on track for its 11th 20-win season in Rice’s 14 seasons at the helm.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
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