Boise State and Butler each needed career days from newcomers to avoid a second defeat at the ESPN Events Invitational in Kissimmee, Fla.
In its 65-61 win over VCU on Friday, Boise State (3-2) was led by freshman Andrew Meadow, who scored 10 of his career-high 12 points in the first half to pace the Broncos and help set up a date with Butler in the fifth-place game on Sunday.
Entering Friday, Meadow hadn’t scored since the season opener against NAIA member Vanguard and played just one minute in the Broncos’ loss to Virginia Tech on Thursday.
Against VCU, Meadow played a season-high 24 minutes and was 5 of 10 from the field, including a pair of 3-pointers.
“I knew my opportunity was going to come at some point,” Meadow said on the Bronco Nation postgame show. “This has always been my dream to play at the highest level of college basketball and I am excited to keep getting better.
“… The last two games that we have dropped, I feel like there is a lot we can learn from them. This is just the beginning for us and we’re going to keep getting better every day.”
Tyson Degenhart added 10 points, aided by 6 of 6 free-throw shooting for Boise State.
Butler (4-2) won its consolation game Friday in a much different way than Boise State. The Bulldogs defeated Penn State 88-78, largely due to Michigan State transfer Pierre Brooks II, who scored a career-high 26 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field.
Coming off a 4-of-9 shooting performance in the Bulldogs’ loss to Florida Atlantic on Thursday, Brooks called head coach Thad Matta in an attempt to instill his coach’s faith in his play.
“I was so happy for Pierre,” Matta said. “He called me last night when I was in my room and said, ‘I didn’t play well, and I owe you that.’ I thought he did a heck of a job.”
Brooks II was one of three double digit scorers, accompanied by Jahmyl Telfort with 18 and D.J. Davis with 14.
–Field Level Media