Boise State’s late putback spoils SMU’s comeback bid, Mustangs exit the NIT early - The Dallas Morning News

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FRISCO — Yor Anei stood on the baseline with a look of disbelief as he stared helplessly across the court at the SMU bench.

Tim Jankovich stood with his hands on his head. Assistant coach Yaphett King was begging the referee to review a no-call on the winning basket that was unreviewable.

None of it would matter, SMU’s fate was already sealed.

Anei had just given up Boise State’s 10th offensive rebound, but this one was a dagger from Dallas native Devonaire Doutrive. The Boise State forward had corralled his own miss and put it back for a basket and a foul. SMU went from up one to down one.

SMU thought it had the game-clinching stop. Instead, a 21-point comeback had been erased. Boise State escaped 85-84 from the Comerica Center in Frisco in the first round of the NIT.

“I saw it on the final play when the shot went up, but we just couldn’t get [Doutrive] stopped,” Tyson Jolly said. “It was a really emotional game, and I thought the plays down the stretch didn’t give us the opportunity to finish it.”

SMU’s season, which at one point was 11-4 and firmly on the NCAA bubble, went down quickly in two games after returning to the court following a 32-day pause between contests because of a COVID-19 shutdown. But it didn’t end in the fashion anyone thought it would.

SMU came into the game without Feron Hunt and Darius McNeill. It was playing in its second game in 38 days and using two starters — Jolly and Isiah Jasey — who just a week ago were on a minutes restriction because of a lack of practice.

The first 10 minutes looked the part of the nightmarish start, a continuation of last Friday when the floor fell out from underneath an undermanned group.

Boise State scored the first 14 points and took tallied 30 points in nine minutes. It went 8-of-10 from 3-point range and, mostly, the shots were uncontested. SMU had four turnovers and couldn’t get a shot up.

When Doutrive hit his second 3-pointer wide open from the corner, SMU called timeout down 30-9.

“We kept telling them they were going to cool off. Nobody shoots like that the whole game,” Jankovich said.

But then SMU went on its own equally improbable run.

Kendric Davis, who would score 23 points, heated up. Emmanuel Bandoumel hit a pair of 3-pointers. William Douglas, in 18 minutes off the bench, tallied nine points and came up with a charge and a steal to propel the run.

SMU finally tied the score with 10 minutes to play on an Anei put back.

But ultimately it wasn’t enough. A final effort from Boise State just put it out of reach. Instead of another week of the season, SMU’s season ended abruptly.

“So many times it comes down the last rebound. Does it bounce to you or does it bounce to them?” Jankovich said. “But to do what we did with the limitations we had, that is why I’m so proud. There is no way to explain because I had to live for the last four or five weeks.”

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Boise State’s late putback spoils SMU’s comeback bid, Mustangs exit the NIT early - The Dallas Morning News
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