La'Shard Anderson thought he had won the game an overtime period earlier. He'll take it any way he can get it, even if it means an extra five minutes.
Anderson sank two free throws with 35.3 seconds remaining in the fourth overtime to lift Boise State past San Jose State 102-101 Thursday night.
Anderson, who had an apparent game-winning 3-pointer reversed following an official review at the end of the third overtime, scored a career-high 31 points for the Broncos (10-5, 3-0 WAC).
By rule any shot that impacts a game in the final moments has to be reviewed. There was a 1.2 second difference between the shot clock and game clock and officials determined Anderson did not get the shot off before the shot clock had expired, though he did shoot before the game clock expired.
''I looked at the clock and saw two seconds,'' Anderson said. ''I thought it was good. I told the guys they might take it away but we just had to play through it.''
Paul Noonan added 20 points and nine rebounds, Robert Arnold had 16 points and Tre Nichols 14 for the Broncos who won their first three conference games for just the second time since joining the WAC for the 2001-02 season.
''It was the best of time and the worst of times,'' Broncos' coach Leon Rice said. ''We had the lead, we lost the lead. We won the game, we lost the game. It was all about recovering.''
Justin Graham matched his career high with 29 points for the Spartans (8-6, 0-3), who lost its third straight.
Calvin Douglas scored a season-high 19 points for the Spartans. Douglas hit game-tying 3-pointers in each of the last three overtime periods.
It was San Jose State's longest game since a four-overtime contest against Cal State Fullerton in 1985 and the first time the Spartans have scored 100 points since 1979, a span of 914 games.
It was also the first-ever overtime game for Boise State.
''It was physical and mentally draining,'' Anderson said. ''I could feel my body giving out. I was cramping since the second half.''
Adrian Oliver, the WAC's scoring leader, chipped in with 21 points for the Spartans before fouling out in the final three minutes of regulation.
Boise State held a 16-point advantage with 12:22 left in the second half before the Spartans roared back to make it interesting.
''You have to commend both teams,'' San Jose State coach George Nessman said. ''That was 60 minutes of hard-nosed basketball and both teams played to the end. They just made one more play than we did.''
Graham hit a 3-pointer to bring San Jose State within 72-69 with 50 seconds remaining in regulation, but Anderson quickly gave the Broncos a four-point lead by hitting 1 of 2 from the foul line.
The Spartans' Wil Carter, who finished with 13 points, followed with a 3-pointer from the corner to make it a one-point game.
Noonan then went 1 of 2 from the free throw line to give the Broncos an edge before Graham came back to tie it with a short jumper and send it into the first overtime.
