Boise State basketball has filled an immediate need with a commitment from a graduate transfer, Christian Sengfelder of Fordham. Sengfelder, from Leverkusen, Germany, started 93 games for the Rams over the past three years and made 160 three-pointers, 71 of them this season. He’ll receive his degree from Fordham next month. Sengfelder competed for the German U20 National Team at the 2015 European Championships in Italy, averaging 10.4 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, both team highs.
Immediate comparisons are being made with Nick Duncan, who just completed his Boise State career. Sengfelder is a 6-7 forward. And those 71 three-pointers? That’s the exact number Duncan dropped in as a senior. Each guy shot 34 percent from beyond the arc this season as well. Sengfelder is one inch shorter than the Aussie, but at 238 pounds, he’s 27 pounds lighter. What that will mean to the Broncos remains to be seen. Sengfelder’s probably going to be around the paint more, though, meaning help around the rim on offense and on the boards. And he can speak his native language with the Bronco Berliner, Robin Jorch.
Former Boise State defensive lineman Dereck Boles was found not guilty of felony mayhem yesterday by an Ada County jury. The charges stemmed from Boles biting off a chunk of then-teammate Chanceller James’ ear during an altercation at a players’ party in February, 2016. The jury deliberated for an hour and a half before reaching its verdict. Boles transferred to Coffeyville Community College in Kansas after being kicked off the Boise State squad and was part of Florida International’s recruiting class in February. His current status with FIU is unknown, though—he is not listed on the team’s roster. As for Boise State, it’s imperative that players put this behind them and glue things back together in the locker room.
Idaho’s second scrimmage of spring football heads down the hill tomorrow to Lewiston’s Bengal Field. There are lots of things to build on from the 2016 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl championship season, and one of them is the ground game. The Vandal running attack evolved over the course of the season, from Aaron Duckworth’s 108 yards in the season opening win over Montana State to Isaiah Saunders’ 147-yard, three-touchdown performance in the bowl win over Colorado State. Idaho expects to feature a three-pronged rushing game this season, adding redshirt freshman Dylan Thigpen from Rancho Cucamonga, CA, into the fray. Thigpen led the Vandals in last Saturday’s scrimmage with 76 yards on 18 carries. “He brings more speed, more quickness,” said Saunders. “He’s a little bit more shifty.”
It’ll be just another night at the office for Joe Basaraba and Corbin Baldwin tonight when the Idaho Steelheads play Game 1 in the best-of-seven Kelly Cup Playoff series against the Colorado Eagles . Both Basaraba and Baldwin have played in all 72 of the Steelheads’ games, the second straight season Baldwin has done that. Basaraba had never played more than 61 games in a pro season heading into this campaign, but he was all over it this season, posting new career-highs with 20 goals and 45 points. A chippy series is expected. Idaho and Colorado met two weeks ago in Boise and racked up 116 penalty minutes in the middle game of their three-game set.
Former Boise State star Graham DeLaet has had a nice professional career, but he’s still never won a PGA Tour event. DeLaet could hardly have hoped for a better start in his latest quest at the RBC Heritage yesterday in Hilton Head, SC. He fired a six-under 65 in the first round and is tied for second with Luke Donald and Sam Saunders, two strokes behind Bud Cauley. DeLaet’s bogey-less day featured six birdies, four of them on the back nine. Troy Merritt was even at 71 yesterday and is tied for 72nd.
Where Boise State wishes there was a team, there’s one gymnast the the NCAA Championships tonight in St. Louis. The Broncos finished third at the NCAA’s Lincoln Regional two weeks ago—one spot short of their first-ever trip to nationals. But sophomore Shani Remme made it for the second straight season as an individual. She competed on beam last year and is entered in the all-around this evening. Elsewhere, Boise State star Allie Ostrander is back on the track this weekend in Southern California. Ostrander will run the 1500-meters at the Bryan Clay Invitational at Azusa Pacific. This will be one to watch—there are more than 300 runners on the entry list for the women’s 1500.
It may not be pretty today, but there’ll be runners’ weather tomorrow for the 40th Race To Robie Creek. Defending women’s champion Molly Mitchell is back this year, as is the 2016 men’s runnerup, Erik Teig. And then you have “old man” Ron Barker, as the sponsoring Rocky Canyon Sail Toads affectionately call him. Barker is the only one to run all 39 previous Robies, and he’s entered tomorrow. Runners are coming from 22 states and Canada, almost evenly split between men and women, ranging in age from 10 to 78. The gun goes off at high noon tomorrow at Fort Boise amid the pageantry of “Retro Robie—40 years of pain and suffering.”
This Day In Sports…April 14, 1981:
In his first home game after signing with the Chicago White Sox as a free agent, Carlton Fisk hits a grand slam to key a 9-3 win over Milwaukee at Comiskey Park. Fisk had played 11 seasons in Boston and would be with the White Sox for 13 more, setting a big league record for home runs by a catcher with 351 (since broken). He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra and anchors five sports segments each weekday on 93.1 FM KTIK. He also served as color commentator on KTVB’s telecasts of Boise State football for 14 seasons.)
