MBB: Aggies rein in Broncos, earn berth to Mountain West championship game
LAS VEGAS — For the fourth time in the last five years, Utah State Men’s Basketball will challenge San Diego State for the Mountain West Conference crown. The Aggies used a huge second half to take down Boise State 72-62 in the semi-final round of the Mountain West Men’s Basketball Championship.
“Just a great game all-around, certainly really fortunate to win,” USU head coach Ryan Odom said. “If you were in the locker room just now, you would see that they’re excited. But they understand there’s more work to do. They want to go for it. I know San Diego State feels the same way.”
After a tough first half where Utah State had 10 turnovers and shot 37.5% from the field, Odom knew the Aggies needed a reset in the locker room, trailing Boise State 36-28.
“We weren’t as connected as we needed to be in that first half. Boise State had a lot do with that,” Odom said. “We just encouraged our guys at halftime to be us in a lot of ways. Give one another space, try to work to get open harder, be tough with the ball when you first catch it. All the things that these guys know but were getting away from us in the first half. I think once we began to settle in into the second half, closed the gap a little bit, our guys began to feel some juice there.”
After the break, the Aggies emerged recentered and were ready to play “Aggie basketball.”
“Champions always answer. That’s Aggie basketball,” guard Steven Ashworth said. “In that second half, we saw Aggie basketball. We were aggressive. We were playing free. We were going for it. We had no fear.”
Forward Taylor Funk started the half with a 3-pointer. Ashworth added another triple after a basket from BSU and from there on, USU had Boise State on their heels. After another layup for the Broncos that put them up 40-34 with 16 minutes left, they would never lead by a larger margin.
A big part of that was an excellent defensive effort from the Aggies that held Boise State to 27.6% from the field in the second half including a stretch starting with nine minutes left where the Broncos missed 10 shots in a row.
“They were hurting us inside in that first half, and so we challenged our big guys to fight more,” Odom said. “I thought our guards did a really nice job throughout the game of making their guards have to take tough shots. They’re great shotmakers. Baskets were hard to come by. That’s what happens when you get in these situations.”
Guards RJ Eytle-Rock and Max Shulga were instrumental in the comeback on offense. Midway through the second half, Eytle-Rock hit a tough jumper in the paint to drop the Boise State lead to one point. Four minutes later, he would sink two free throws to give Utah State its first lead after Ashworth tied the game with a free throw on the previous possession. Then Eytle-Rock nailed a 3-pointer to respond to a Boise State free throw putting the Aggies up 56-51.
Eytle-Rock finished the game with 13 points. The performance was his first game scoring double-digits since the Nevada game and just his third time doing so this season.
“Proud of RJ, but just really happy for RJ that he is able to show what he can do,” Ashworth said. “He is a special player and he has been showing up for us big-time down the stretch of this season.”
Shulga got to the line early in the half, sunk two free throws and completed two and-ones to cut the lead down to three points and then down to one point 49-48 with just over nine minutes left. Later, he hit back-to-back 3-pointers during an 11-2 Aggie run that extended their lead to 64-53. Shulga finished with 19 points and five assists.
That run secured the win as Boise State was effectively out of the game during a media timeout with just over three minutes left when USU led 64-53. Utah State finished the job from the free-throw line to win 72-62.
The first half, on the other hand, did not go Utah State’s way at all. The Aggies opened up 3-for-9 from the field in the first five minutes as Boise State built a two-possession lead 10-6.
USU guard Sean Bairstow kept the Aggies alive as they struggled from the field, scoring six of Utah State’s first 10 points. Odom said it was important to the team to see him back in full force after Bairstow was banged up in the last contest with Boise State.
“Sean was huge, Odom said. “To see him flying up and down the court in the last two days was huge, and certainly he means so much to our team.”
Most of USU’s difficulties came from the perimeter, but Shulga took the figurative lid off the basket when he hit Utah State’s first 3-pointer after six tries eight minutes into the contest to cut the Bronco lead to 14-13.
The Aggies’ struggles from downtown would continue as they shot just 3-for-15 from beyond the arc in the first half.
Utah State would tie the game with a Bairstow and-one two minutes later, but the Broncos responded with a layup of their own to get back on top 18-16. That basket was part of a 10-2 Boise State run that built their lead to 26-18 with just under six minutes left in the first half.
That’s when Ashworth stepped up. After a scoreless 88 seconds from both teams, he drew a foul and hit two free throws. Then, Ashworth splashed in two 3-pointers over a minute stretch, before he was called for a blocking foul.
Boise State would take a 36-28 at halftime before USU had launched their resurgence.
Utah State will get its shot on Saturday at 4 p.m. MST. The game will be broadcast on Aggie Radio 92.3 FM.
Featured image by Heidi Bingham.