BOISE, Idaho — THIS DAY IN SPORTS…January 13, 2018, five years ago today:
Chandler Hutchison breaks a 47-year-old Boise State record with 44 points in an 83-80 win over San Diego State at sold-out Taco Bell Arena. Hutchison scored the Broncos’ first 16 points of the game, had 25 at halftime, tied the record on the last of his seven three-pointers with four minutes left and broke it on a couple of crucial free throws with 15 seconds remaining. His point total was the fifth-most in Mountain West history. Hutchison was on a tear at the time, averaging 27.5 points per game in Mountain West play and posting 20-point performances in nine of 11 games.
I wrote at the time that the atmosphere was the best of the 21st century in Taco Bell Arena. The crowd was announced at 10,684, but that was turnstile count, and it was impressive. Earlier in the day, coach Leon Rice had waded across the Boise River to fulfill a pledge he made to fans for packing the arena. He was fortunate enough to have a 50-degree January day at his disposal. The video was shown to the crowd with 7:45 left in the game during a timeout, and that served to ratchet up the energy another notch during another epic battle against the Aztecs.
Hutchison would go on to an All-Mountain West campaign and would be named conference Player of the Year, the last Bronco to earn the honor. He was drafted 22nd overall in the first round of the 2018 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls, but his pro career never really took root. Hutchison played parts of three seasons with the Bulls, split the third one with the Washington Wizards and began last season with the Phoenix Suns. He played in six games for the Suns before being sent back to the G League, and he stepped away from basketball in December. Hutchison is still one of Boise State’s best-liked players of all-time, though.
This is Boise State’s 55th season as a four-year program, and it has a total of four 40-point games. BSU Athletic Hall of Famer Ron Austin, who held the previous single-game record of 42 points against Montana in 1971, had a 41-point night 2½ weeks before that versus Portland State. The only other one came from Carl Powell, who put up exactly 40 against Idaho State in 1979.
(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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