Aaron Garner comes up big

We love it when a real unknown comes alive on one of the biggest stages:

Garner makes most of opportunity in big game
BRIAN MURPHY
Idaho Statesman
3/15/08

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Aaron Garner had everyone inside the Pan American Center scrambling for a roster Friday night.

No. 12 for Boise State?

Who is this guy?

Even after his surprising effort helped the Broncos past top-seeded Utah State and into the WAC Tournament championship game, Garner's Q rating still needed help - the moderator of the postgame press conference was stumped by his name.

That's what happens when you spend an entire season buried on the bench. Garner, a junior college transfer, entered the game averaging 7.3 minutes and 1.5 points per game in his first year with the Broncos.

Not exactly the face of the program. More like the face on a milk carton.

Imagine the frustration for a player who was league MVP in high school and first-team all-conference in junior college.

"One of the toughest things I've ever had to do in my life," Garner said of his season on the bench.

But rather than complain and mope, Garner got his shots after practice and studied the floor during games. And waited.

"He stays and shoots and works and works and works," coach Greg Graham said. "That's hard to do when you're used to being a guy who's all-everything and playing a lot."

Graham had a hunch before the Utah State game.

A hunch that the guy who scored just 12 points in the last 10 games, that the guy with five made 3-pointers all season, that the guy who hadn't played more than 16 minutes in a game since Thanksgiving was going to play a major role in a loser-out game against a team that had beaten the Broncos twice this season...

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