Men’s basketball’s season came to an end with an 89-59 loss to Boise State in the College Basketball Crown Tournament in Las Vegas Monday night.
The Revolutionaries’ postseason tournament hopes will stay in Vegas, where the Broncos will advance to the quarterfinals to keep trying their luck for their share of the ultimate $500,000 NIL prize. After the Revs’ hot start, Boise State outmatched GW to end the game, outscoring them 57-33 in the second half.
Leading the way offensively for the Revs’ was sophomore guard Trey Autry, who notched 16 points on 5-10 shooting. Redshirt junior forward Rafael Castro and freshman guard Ty Bevins each recorded 11 points, with the latter setting a career-high in the process.
Redshirt sophomore forward Darren Buchanan Jr., sophomore guard Jacoi Hutchinson and freshman guard Dayan Nessah combined for six points in what is likely their last game with the team. The three announced their entrances to the transfer portal last week but decided to remain on the team for the tournament.
The Revs took an early 9-3 lead into a timeout at the 11:47 mark. Boise State’s offense was stifled to enter the game, shooting just 1-11 from the field. But the tide began to change after a timeout, with the Broncos going on a 16-5 run spanning six minutes. Junior forward Javan Buchanan hit a jumper at the buzzer to give the Broncos a 32-26 lead at the end of the first half.
Out of the break, the Revs went on a run of their own, cutting the Broncos lead to 41-37 on a slam from Castro. After Bevins hit a three from downtown to make it 43-40, the Broncos went on a 17-4 run across the next five minutes to up their lead to 60-44 on a layup from senior forward Tyson Degenhart, who was named a member of the All-Mountain West First Team after averaging 17.9 points per game this past season.
From the 10:41 mark to the end of the game, the Broncos outscored the Revs 29-15 and shot 60.5 percent from the field.
Despite the desert heat, GW was cold from beyond the arc in the second half, connecting on just three of their 12 attempts. The Revs also struggled with turnovers throughout the game, giving up 22 compared to the Broncos’ nine. This led to 27 points off turnovers for Boise State compared to just 5 for GW.
Before the tournament, Head Coach Chris Caputo said in an interview that earning a spot in the Crown tournament was key to his program’s growth after winning 21 games, the most in a season since 2016.
“To get invited by Fox to their event in Las Vegas, with a field filled with big, power conference brands and then somebody like Boise, who’s been a perennial NCAA team, we feel like we’ve gained some momentum behind some of the success of this year, given where the program was,” Caputo said.
Fox Sports created The Crown as a new postseason men’s college basketball tournament this year. The field includes 16 teams, with automatic bids given to the best teams from the Big East, Big 12 and Big Ten who did not earn bids to the NCAA tournament, as well as at-large bids to teams from other conferences.
Boise State was GW’s best non-conference and second-best overall opponent they played with a NET ranking of 44, prior to the game — the highest of the tournament field and well above GW’s ranking of 124. The Broncos were named one of the first four out of the NCAA Tournament, marking the first time in four years they missed the field.
