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Aggies lose heartbreaker to San Diego State

Jalen Moore’s game-tying attempt fell short and San Diego State made free throws down the stretch as the Utah State men’s basketball team lost, 71-65, in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West tournament in Las Vegas on Thursday.

“This might have been one of the hardest games we’ve ever been in,” Moore said. “Everybody played hard. Nobody wanted to lose … I never had a thought in my mind we were going to lose the game until at the very end.”

On the decisive possession, Moore caught the ball beyond the 3-point line with under 20 seconds to go and the Aggies trailing by two points. The junior wing drove into the paint and put up an off-balanced shot, but wasn’t able to finish.

“I wanted to at least get a shot up in case we missed so that we had enough time to foul them,” Moore said.

Neither team led by more than eight points at any time during the game as the Aggies pushed the tournament’s top-seeded team until the final moments.

“I’m smart enough to know that this is a very well-coached team that desperately wanted to play,” said SDSU coach Steve Fisher. “They’ve lost some tough, close, hard-fought games and they didn’t hang their head.”

A made 3-pointer by Moore with just under six minutes to play and then a free throw by junior guard Shane Rector on the following possession gave USU a five-point lead.

The Aggie offense wilted down the stretch, however, as the team connected on just one of its final 13 field goal attempts.

“They were a tough defensive team,” Moore said. “They were defensively sound and they picked up their pressure the last seven minutes and made us stall a little bit.”

The defensive intensity worked both ways as SDSU was unable to pull away from the Aggies.

“We were guarding them a little bit, too,” Moore said. “It was a back and forth game.”

Thursday’s contest featured five ties and seven lead changes, including two of each in the frenetic final three minutes.

The game turned when, with just under four minutes to go and the Aggies holding a three-point lead, Rector and Moore were unable to finish a two-on-one fast break opportunity. The Aztecs quickly took the ball the other way and sophomore guard Trey Kell scored to cut the USU lead to one.

“It seems like always in basketball when you miss a layup or an opportunity on one end, it seems like the other team always gets a layup on the other,” said coach Tim Duryea. “That was a five-point turnaround in my mind. I thought that was huge.”

It was a decision by the officials late in the contest, however, that was a talking point after the game.

With 1:52 to go and USU ahead by two points, SDSU freshman forward Zylan Cheatham gathered a rebound after an Aggie miss. He twisted quickly to the right, elbowing USU junior forward Lew Evans in the lower midsection. It was initially ruled as a foul on Cheatham, which would have given USU two free throws and the chance to build on the lead.

“I thought we would have free throws and maybe the ball,” Duryea said.

A flagrant foul ruling on top of the offensive foul would have given USU possession after the free throws, a critical opportunity so late in the game. After review, however, the foul was taken away and possession given back to the Aztecs.

“The explanation given to me was when they blow the whistle they can go over and look at it and they can take the foul back,” Duryea said. “When we huddled as a team, (Evans) said he definitely had gotten hit. We were talking as though we were going to get the free throws and the ball. We were proceeding along those lines until (the official) called me over and told me what they had ruled.”

Sophomore forward Malik Pope tied the game on a jump shot on the following possession. Kell gave SDSU the lead for good with a jumper of his own with 48 seconds left.

Utah State senior Chris Smith struggled against Aztec senior forward Winston Shepard, scoring just four points on 1 of 5 from the floor.

“His size and his tenacity as a defender really makes it hard,” Duryea said. “Chris hung in there and tried to get some things going … It’s tough when you’re going against him.”

Moore finished with 14 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Evans paced the Aggies with 15 points and also added seven rebounds in 32 minutes.

Rector started for the second-consecutive game and struggled from the floor, shooting just 1 of 9, but finished with 11 points, four rebounds, seven assists and two steals.

Kell led the Aztecs with 17 points on 6 of 14 shooting.

– thomas.sorenson@aggiemail.usu.edu

Twitter: @tomcat340