Aginaldo Neto went 4-for-5 from long range and tallied 25 points, six rebounds and five assists, leading Boise State to a 100-81 win over visiting Butler Sunday afternoon.
Spencer Ahrens also had a big day as he hit five 3-pointers and scored 24, while Pearson Carmichael came through with 14 points.
Dovydas Butka and Damari Wheeler-Thomas finished with 14 and 12 points, respectively, for the Broncos (2-0), who made 17 of their 35 attempts from beyond the arc.
Eduardo Klafke scored 19 points to lead Butler (2-1), which came into the day having made 36 3-pointers in its first two games but was held to just an 8-of-36 showing from long distance.
Treyson Anderson came through with a double-double of 13 points and 13 rebounds. Jalen Jackson added 19 points and Jordan Ellerbee had 16 points in Butler’s first road game of the year.
Boise State came out of the gate on fire, making three 3-pointers in the first two minutes, the last by Neto with 17:57 remaining for a 9-4 advantage.
The Broncos held a 23-10 lead with 14:02 to play after back-to-back 3-pointers from Damari Wheeler.
Those shots were part of a 12-0 run punctuated by Carmichael, who buried a 3-pointer to stretch the lead to 26-10 with 12:11 left.
The Bulldogs had no answer, going more than four minutes without scoring.
They ended the drought with 11:39 left thanks to a couple of free throws from Treyson Anderson, cutting the Boise State lead to 26-12.
It was Anderson who later made Butler’s first shot from distance of the day, connecting from long range to pull the Bulldogs within 31-19 at the 9:40 mark.
They made two more 3-pointers over the next few minutes, the second one coming from Jordan Ellerbee with 6:11 to go to bring Butler within single digits at 35-27.
The Broncos finished the first half on a 9-0 run, capping it with Neto’s 3-pointer with 56 seconds left as they surged into halftime with a 51-31 lead.
Boise State made nine 3-pointers on 19 attempts in the first half while Butler missed 17 of its 20 attempts from long range and did not score in the final 3:05.
Jerquarius Stanback knocked down a 3-pointer with 13:25 remaining to give the Broncos their largest lead of the day at 67-41.
A 15-1 run late in the game got Butler within 80-69 after Klafke scored on a layup.
–Field Level Media
