Boise State fans storm the court after Broncos knock off No. 17 Colorado State

The 10th-largest crowd to ever watch a men’s basketball game at ExtraMile Arena was on edge with No. 17 Colorado State in town on Tuesday.

The 12,058 who packed the arena roared their approval when Chibuzo Agbo hit a 3-pointer late in the first half to send the Broncos into halftime with a seven-point lead.

The orange-and-blue-clad crowd went nuts when freshman Andrew Meadow hit two 3-pointers to give the Broncos some breathing room in the second half, and the Broncos’ faithful lost their minds when Max Rice dished to O’Mar Stanley for a late dunk.

The crowd hit another octave when Boise State came up with a big defensive stop while clinging to a four-point lead with 1:30 to play, and chanted “overrated” at the Rams — who lost their second straight game — in the closing seconds. All that pent-up energy was released when the final horn sounded on the Broncos’ 65-58 win.

The fans, led by a healthy student section, stormed the court to celebrate Boise State’s seventh home win over a ranked opponent in program history. Colorado State is the second-highest-ranked opponent the Broncos have knocked off at ExtraMile; they scored a 69-61 win over then-No. 15 Washington State in 1998.

“I’ve never been a part of something like that,” Boise State point guard Roddie Anderson III said. “I’m not used to this big atmosphere, but the love the fans show every game is a blessing.”

Stanley paced the Broncos on Tuesday with 17 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to record his third double-double of the season. Tyson Degenhart and Chibuzo Agbo both finished with 13 points, while Rice shook off a poor shooting night to score 11, the same total as Meadow.

“I’m really proud of the guys because we knew this was going to be a battle,” Boise State coach Leon Rice said. “You have to work defensively to stop (Colorado State), and I thought our guys did a great job of that.”

The first half featured eight lead changes, but the Broncos got hot before heading into the locker room. They ended the first half on a 15-4 run that included 3-pointers by Agbo and Stanley that forged a 28-21 lead in a defensive struggle.

Colorado State (13-3, 1-2 Mountain West) cut the Broncos’ lead to one with a 10-4 run early in the second half, but that’s when Meadow hit two of the biggest shots of his young career. He knocked down a 3-pointer to give Boise State a five-point cushion, and followed with another later that put the Broncos up 39-33. Meadow finished the night 3-for-4 from beyond the arc.

“He’s got crazy confidence, and I love that,” Leon Rice said. “He’s got the ‘it’ thing that I didn’t put in him. He packed that up and brought it to college with him, and his teammates know that.”

Boise State (11-4, 2-0) pulled away with a 16-5 run after Meadow’s deep shots and led by 13 points at one point in the second half. The Rams battled back to make it 57-53 with 1:30 to play, but the Broncos knocked down eight straight free throws to extend the nation’s longest home winning streak to 22 games.

“What a great atmosphere,” Leon Rice said. “You can’t have a great program without a great home court, and these fans make it a great home court.”

What ultimately doomed the Rams, who started the season 9-0 and improved to 13-1 before a loss to Utah State, were turnovers and their struggles from 3-point range. Colorado State committed 10 turnovers that the Broncos turned into eight points in the first half. Averaging just 10.7 turnovers a game, the Rams finished with 16 on Tuesday night.

The Broncos converted those turnovers into 11 points and finished the game with 10 steals — one shy of the season-high 11 they racked up against North Texas.

“We played great in the gaps,” said Anderson, who finished Tuesday’s win with a season-high eight assists. “Every pass, we were getting deflections, but we didn’t really come in with any other mindset than we’re going to play harder than them.”

The Rams went just 1-for-4 on 3-pointers in the first half and finished the game 4-for-16. That was a testament to the Broncos’ effort, Stanely said.

“It started on defense,” Stanley said. “We started getting stops, we started getting rebounds and making the most of our opportunities.”

Boise State limited Colorado State’s star point guard, Isaiah Stevens, to 15 points. Nique Clifford chipped in with 12 before he fouled out in the second half.

“Isaiah is a great player, but the biggest thing I tried to do is just not let him get comfortable,” Anderson said. “I tried to pressure him as much as I could because I knew my teammates had my back behind me.”

The Broncos are back in action Friday when they hit the road for a Mountain West game at Nevada, which beat Air Force on Tuesday night and is off to a red-hot 15-1 start this season, including winning its first two conference games. Tipoff is 8:30 p.m. Mountain time and the game will be televised on FS1.