Friday, January 26, 2007.

It was a step forward for the Boise State men’s basketball team last night—on the court and in the stands. The Broncos are back over .500 in the WAC, and they might be over the hump in attendance. BSU’s 65-61 win at Taco Bell Arena showed that the Broncos can gut out a close game against an upper-echelon WAC team, one week removed from the shocking collapse at Utah State. And enough among the 10,000-plus that turned out last Saturday came back for more to push the attendance to 5,727. It was the biggest BSU crowd not influenced by a Fiesta Bowl ceremony since the season opener in November, 2005.

Coby Karl was the show in this one, especially in the first half. Karl had 13 points at the intermission and 21 for the night, and canned four three-pointers. But it was Coby’s backcourt running mate who may have had a more important game. Eric Lane has struggled all the way through his senior year, but his 11 points included a pair of critical threes, one of them giving BSU an eight-point lead with 4:10 left. Lane also had three rebounds and three free throws in the final 1:10 to help seal the deal. On the other end, Fresno State was barraging the Broncos with 67 shots, but only 23 went down (34 percent).

Idaho is out to light a fire in Cowan Spectrum tomorrow night similar to the one the Kibbie Dome had for the football showdown last October as the Vandals seek to snap a 10-game losing streak to the Broncos in basketball. There were 17,000 in the building for the football clash, creating the best atmosphere they’ve seen on the Idaho side of the Palouse…maybe ever. The basketball Vandals don’t have the positive vibes their football counterparts did going into the game with their hated rivals, though. Idaho hoops is averaging only 1,112 fans and is 13-63 over the past three campaigns. All the more reason for the Vandals to look at this matchup with the Broncos as a season-maker. The Idaho women’s team, with a 4-14 record, looks at tomorrow night the same way in Taco Bell Arena, while the Lady Broncos try to build on their WAC lead.

Fort Worth was trying to make its case as the new “hottest team in the D-League” last night, replacing the Idaho Stampede. The resilient Flyers, who blew by the Stampede in the fourth quarter Wednesday night, were doing the same early in the final period when the home team caught fire at Qwest Arena. Down by nine with just over five minutes left, the Stampede rallied for a 116-108 win. That offset a stunning night by Fort Worth’s Jose Juan Barea, who connected on 18-of-24 from the field and scored 43 points. But the Stamps had their own gun going, with Ronell Taylor pouring in 32. They now have a rare weekend off before hosting Austin next Wednesday.

Hopefully your new Sports Illustrated will be waiting in your mailbox when you get home today. The Fiesta Bowl residuals continue for Boise State with an SI feature story. Writer Austin Murphy met recently with BSU’s key characters in the Fiesta Bowl drama, getting the inside scoop on the three famous trick plays that brought down Oklahoma. Not to spoil it for you, but one of the coolest things in the article is the ending, talking about how the Sooners coach Bob Stoops and star linebacker Rufus Alexander handled the defeat.

Writes Murphy: “On the quiet ride to the team hotel, Alexander came to terms with the defeat. ‘I'm sitting on that bus,’ he recalls, ‘and my (college) career is over. We'd lost to a team everybody said we were supposed to beat. But then I started thinking about it. This was a great game—a game people will be talking about 30 years from now. I wish it had gone the other way, but you know something? It was an honor just to play in that game.’”

The Fiesta Bowl frenzy has not hurt the Boise Burn, the new af2 franchise set to begin play this spring. It’s a form of football, and it’ll have a slight Bronco tint. Can’t go wrong with that around here right now. With former BSU teammates Bart Hendricks, Tim Gilligan and Lee Marks already on the Burn roster, Rob Vian joined the fold yesterday. Vian is a former All-WAC offensive tackle at Boise State and is currently on the staff at Mountain View High. Also, former Weiser High star Levi Madarietta brings af2 experience to the Burn, as he played last season for the league champion Spokane Shock. Madarietta played college ball at BYU after transferring from Washington. And Casey Rehrer, a one-time Mountain View Maverick and Southern Utah product, has signed on as a quarterback with the Burn.

One Idaho Steelhead you don’t hear too much about is center Taggart Desmet, but he’s worth some ink today as the Steelies prepare for a weekend series in Las Vegas. Desmet’s been playing for Idaho since early November but had only three goals going into Wednesday night’s game at Utah. But he tallied numbers 4 and 5 against the Grizzlies, keying a 5-0 shutout. In 32 games, Desmet has nine points total now. As a team, the Steelheads are just trying to keep Alaska in their sights right now. The Aces have pulled out to a 10-point lead over the Steelies in the ECHL West Division.

This Day In Sports…January 26, 1986:

The Chicago Bears humble the New England Patriots, 46-10, in what was at that time the most lopsided Super Bowl in history. It was supposed to be the start of a Bears dynasty, but it was a flash in the pan. It marked Walter Payton’s only Super Bowl appearance, but he never got to score a touchdown despite a perfect short-yardage opportunity late in the game. Coach Mike Ditka elected to go with a gimmick, giving the ball to defensive tackle William “The Refrigerator” Perry for the final score.

(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment Sunday nights at 10:30PM on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra and anchors five sports segments each weekday on 1350 KTIK/The Ticket. He also handles color commentary on KTVB’s telecasts of Boise State football.)

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