ORLANDO, Fla. — Freshman forward Andrew Meadow scored a team-high 12 points as Boise State beat VCU 65-61 on Friday night in its second game at the ESPN Events Invitational.
Meadow – who played 24 minutes off the bench – shot 5 for 10, including 2 for 3 from beyond the arc for the Broncos (3-2). After falling behind 14-4 roughly eight minutes into the game, Meadow provided a spark for Boise State, alongside junior Tyson Degenhart.
The Broncos struggled early and late against the Rams, making just one of their first eight shots from the field, and going without a made field goal across the final 5:21 of Friday's win. Meadow scored 10 points in the first half, surpassing his previous career-high of eight for a full game (Vanguard).
"Andrew Meadow saved us in that first half and he did a tremendous job when it looked like we were running in sand," head coach Leon Rice said. "It's hard when you've been on the road for a long time, and we played hard last night. We had some guys that were tired and so our bench really gave us that lift, starting with Andrew."
Boise State's bench combined for 25 points against VCU (3-3) and seven players scored seven or more points. Kansas transfer Cam Martin finished with eight points and seven rebounds, while UC San Diego transfer Roddie Anderson III totaled eight points.
Senior guard Chibuzo Agbo did a bit of everything in Boise State's much-needed win, finishing with eight points, six rebounds and two steals. Degenhart added 10 points, a pair of steals and two rebounds, and hit a pair of key free throws with one minute to play.
Despite shooting 12.5% from the field early, Boise State limited VCU to just two made field goals on 12 attempts in the final 9:03 of the first half and the Rams led 29-28 at the break.
During roughly a three-minute stretch in the second half, Max Rice scored seven points and Boise State went up 47-39 with 12:09 to play. VCU's Max Shulga and Anderson each drilled two shots from beyond the arc to make it 55-50 in favor of the Broncos with eight minutes remaining.
Martin made five clutch free throws for the Broncos down the stretch and Degenhart hit both attempts at the line with 1:01 to play to extend Boise State's lead from 62-59, to 64-59. Anderson's impressive defense helped end things for the Rams:
Shulga led the way for VCU with 24 points and eight rebounds. The Rams also got 14 points and nine rebounds from Toibu Lawal, while Zeb Jackson finished with eight points, six rebounds and two steals.
Boise State advances to the fifth-place game of the ESPN Events Invitational, where it will square off with Butler at 2 p.m. MT Sunday on the ESPN Family of Networks. The Broncos can finish a tough four-game stretch 2-2 and 4-2 overall with a win before they return to the Gem State.
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