Box Score BOISE, ID - James Webb III scored a career-best 31 points, leading five Boise State players in double figures as the host Broncos (8-4) pulled away for a 90-70 win against Bradley (2-10) in a Mountain West-Missouri Valley Challenge Series game Sunday afternoon at Taco Bell Arena.
Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye paced Bradley with 17 points and fellow freshman guard Antoine Pittman scored in double-figures for a fourth consecutive game by chipping in a career-best 15 points for the Braves, who scored a season-best 70 points and made a season-high nine 3-pointers.
Boise State came into the game among the top 25 3-point shooting teams in the nation, but the Broncos were just 6-for-20 from beyond the arc Sunday. The hosts made up for the cold perimeter shooting at the free throw line and in the paint: the Broncos made 28-of-34 (.824) free throw attempts and outscored Bradley 42-20 in the paint. Boise State also made efficient use of Bradley's 14 turnovers, converting the miscues into a 24-1 advantage in points off turnovers.
Webb, who entered the game shooting just 56 percent from the free throw line, made 10-of-11 attempts Sunday. Mikey Thompson added 12 points for Boise State. The Broncos also got 11 points each from Nick Duncan and Chandler Hutchison, as well as 10 from Lonnie Jackson.
A Lautier-Ogunleye bucket pulled Bradley to within 18-14 with 13:22 left in the first half and the Braves were still within six, 29-23, with 7:09 left in the half after four straight points from Pittman. An inside basket from Duncan, followed by a steal and breakaway dunk by Webb gave the Broncos a double-digit lead, 33-23, and Boise State took a lasting double-digit lead, 43-33, on a Hutchison free throw with 1:24 remaining in the half.
Consecutive 3-pointers by Luuk van Bree and Lautier-Ogunleye sliced a 16-point deficit early in the second half to 52-42, but an old-fashioned 3-point play by Thompson ignited a 13-2 Broncos run to put the home team in control.
Bradley will return home for its final non-conference game Wednesday, when the Braves host Big 12 Conference member TCU in a 7 p.m. tip at Carver Arena.
