Aggie hoops celebrate senior night, fall short to CSU
LOGAN – Utah State finished out their home schedule on Saturday night against Colorado State. The Aggies honored seniors R.J. Eytle-Rock, Brandon Horvath, Brock Miller and Justin Bean before tip-off during their last game in front of an Aggie crowd.
“It was definitely a special night here,” Eytle-Rock said about being recognized. “I was glad my mom was here, that was a very special moment.”
In addition to the senior recognition, a moment of silence was held in support of Aggie athletes Kristy Frank (volleyball) and Max Shulga (basketball), both natives of Kyiv, Ukraine. Both have family currently residing in the area. During player introductions, Shulga could be seen with a Ukrainian flag draped over his shoulders.
Man all the feels for Max Shulga right now, who has family still living in Kyiv. pic.twitter.com/jNJYH9AZD6
— Mark D. Greenwood (@md_greenwood) February 27, 2022
“Max is an incredible person, obviously he’s thinking of his family. He’s updating us on how they’re doing and he’s more positive than others would think with what he’s going through,” forward Justin Bean said. “I thought everyone tonight supporting him was cool to see that collective unity from the city and community.”
After the pregame festivities, it was back to business for the Aggies. After a long-fought game, where Utah State led for part of the second half, the Rams would prevail 66-55.
“Rough night for us, pretty much all around,” head coach Ryan Odom said. “We couldn’t buy a basket in the beginning. Good teams like Colorado State can really take advantage when you’re not playing particularly well offensively, and shots aren’t going in.”
Utah State started 1 of 7 from the floor to start the game and quickly found themselves in a 17-8 deficit. The Aggies would gain some momentum going into the half and cut the Ram lead to six. USU came out of the break red hot, going on an 8-0 run to take a two-point lead, 32-30. The two teams would trade leads for the first half of the period and with 10:23 remaining, the Aggies found themselves up by four.
After that point, Colorado State reeled off 12 points unanswered to retake the lead. With just under seven minutes remaining. Utah State would be unable to recover, and the Rams cruised to an 11-point victory.
CSU’s Kendle Moore took over the game for the Rams in the second half, scoring 18-points on 4 for 4 from three. Moore would end the game with 23 points total, missing just four shots in the game.
“We tried to switch up our defense in the second half going to somebody different, but we just kept losing him,” Eytle-Rock said on Moore. “Every time we scored, we couldn’t get a stop.”