USU MBB: Aggies get bounce-back win over Seattle

HONOLULU — After Utah State Men’s Basketball lost their first game of the season on Monday, the Aggies rebounded with an 84-56 win over Seattle in the opening round of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic on Thursday. 

“It’s a really big win for us, especially coming after a loss like that,” guard Max Shulga said. 

Five Aggies scored double-digit points in what was a true team effort. Guard Steven Ashworth led USU with 17 points including five made 3-pointers. Forward Dan Akin was close behind with 15 points including five from the free-throw line. 

After tough defense from both teams throughout the first seven minutes of the game, Seattle led 13-10. Then, guard Sean Bairstow hit the first 3-pointer of the game to start a 20-5 run for Utah State over the next ten minutes.

“We were just kind of trading baskets at the start and it took us a couple of defensive stops and stops and scores and that’s what got us going,” Shulga said. “Then we just stuck with it for the rest of the game. We couldn’t relax like we did in the last game.”

Defensively, the Aggies shut down Seattle’s leading scorer, guard Cameron Tyson with their defense in the first half, limiting him to just five points in 14 minutes.

In the second half, Tyson rebounded and got up to his average of 20 points, but it was too little too late for the Redhawks. 

“We knew he’s gonna score baskets,” head coach Ryan Odom said. “Just a matter of keeping the percentage down and forcing him to take more shots just to potentially get his average.”

USU’s defense opened up opportunities on offense as the Aggies had 15 fast break points and 11 points off of turnovers during the contest. 

“That’s just what we do,” Shulga said. “We get stops and then we run in transition. That’s who we are and that’s what we’re going to try to continue to be. It always starts on defense for us.”

Overall, Odom saw a much improved defensive effort from the Aggies after a tough second half against Weber State on Monday.  

“We showed a bunch of clips of us playing against our last opponent and we were not intentional, we were not intense,” Odom said. “You can’t play defense that way and so our guys took that to heart.” 

The Aggies continued where they left off after halftime and pushed the lead to 20 points, 51-31, on a 13-2 run in the first part of the second half. 

For good emphasis, Utah State went on 8-0 run with about six minutes left in the game to lead by 32 points briefly. 

With the win. the Aggies advance to the semifinal round of the tourney to take on SMU Friday at 5 p.m. 

“It’s exciting for us to be in the second round here against a quality opponent like SMU and we’re looking forward to the challenge,” Odom said. “We know they’re an athletic team. They defend you really well and they’re certainly well-coached.”

The game will be broadcast on Aggie Radio 92.3 FM and ESPN2.

Featured image by Phil Weber from the Weber State game.