Aggies bounce back, ground Air Force
Needing a win at nearly all costs, Utah State pulled through with a convincing 72-47 win over Air Force at home Tuesday night. It was a win that killed multiple birds with one stone. First, it brought some not-yet-cold revenge on the Falcons who pummeled the Aggies 79-60 in Colorado Springs on Jan. 7. It also put a forgettable outing against Boise State a little further behind them.
“It was a long ride home from Boise on Saturday,” USU head coach Craig Smith said. “But they came back on Sunday ready to go to work with great attitudes and certainly disappointment in their eyes but they responded and we had two excellent practices going into today.”
By no means were the Aggies perfect on the night. The first half was littered with the same ills that led to four losses in five tries. USU made its first two shots of the night but then missed nine of its next 10 shots. Another shooting drought a few minutes later, this time a 0 for 7 stretch, set the Aggies back from a 10-point lead to just a four-point 17-13 advantage midway through the first half.
Those stretches might have caused flashbacks to Utah State’s previous loss to the Falcons when USU allowed Air Force to go on a 9-0 run to end the first half. But two weeks of learning in the school of hard knocks made it through to the Aggies and they closed the half by putting together an 9-0 run of their own that ballooned a three-point lead at the 5:54 mark of the first half to as high as 12 and eventually 11 at the halftime break.
That late first-half momentum carried into the start of the second. Five of the Aggies’ first seven shots ripped the nets which aided in an 11-3 run within the first three minutes of the second half that put USU up 45-24.
Sam Merrill played a significant role in that spurt. In the first five minutes of the second, the senior guard made a 3-pointer — his first made field goal of the game to that point — hit a pair of layups and assisted on a Justin Bean dunk.
“I tried to be aggressive this whole game, I just, for whatever reason in the first half I couldn’t find any openings,” Merrill said. “At halftime I just kind of recollected myself and looked at what I needed to do to find those openings, get some good shots. Coach ran a couple of good sets to get me open as well.”
Merrill finished with 15 points which lifted him above Cornell Green and Brian Jackson on USU’s all-time scoring list. Merrill is now fourth with 1,901 career points, 100 back from third-place Wayne Estes (2,001) and 99 from being just the fourth Aggie in program history to record 2,000 career points. Jaycee Carroll (2,522) and Greg Grant (2,127) are the other two Aggies with 2,000 points along with Estes.
Even accounting for Merrill, most of the Aggies’ offense came via its frontcourt duo of Justin Bean and Neemias Queta. The two combined for 30 points on 11 of 15 shooting. Bean recorded his 12th double-double of the season and led both teams in points (16), rebounds (13) assists (five) and tied with three others for most steals (2).
“We challenged Justin yesterday,” Smith said, “and it’s the first time he’s really looked like Justin again from some of his injuries he’s been dealing with.”
Bean has posted back-to-back double-doubles (18 and 10 vs Boise State) after a three-game stretch where he didn’t record more than eight points or five rebounds in a single game. In that span Bean averaging 5.7 points and 4.3 boards. According to Bean, he has been dealing with a minor ankle injury as of late.
Forward Justin Bean played 33 minutes in the USU Men’s Basketball game against Air Force on January 21, 2020. Photo by Iain Laurence
Queta played just 20 minutes, his time being limited due to a sudden bout of sickness midway through the game, but he scored 14 points on 6 of 8 shooting, dominating the shorter Air Force players in the post. It was Queta’s fourth game with 10-plus points in his last five outings.
“He’s really starting to get back into form and you can tell that,” Smith said of Queta.
Though there were some hiccups on offense, they were isolated almost entirely to the first half and the overall feeling was positive and brought some hope to the struggling Aggies.
“I think our offense is starting to do some things,” Smith said. “I thought we played well offensively against Boise, obviously except for (the last four minutes), but you can sense and feel, I think we’re finally kind of semi turning the corner here a bit.”
While there may have been rough patches for the offense, at no point was USU’s defense ever asleep. After surrendering 79 points to the Falcons two weeks ago — the highest conference total this year and third-highest overall — Utah State put the clamps on Air Force.
On the night, the 23rd-best shooting team in the country at 47.6 percent on the season, made only 29.4 percent of its attempts Tuesday night. Ryan Swan, who went for 31 points in the previous game against Utah State, finished with just 10 points on 11 shots.
“When we defend the ball really well and wall up and just are solid and fundamental, then we’re a really good team,” Bean said. “We locked on defense a lot this week and knowing their stuff.”
The win give Utah State an even 4-4 record in Mountain West play, the remain in seventh place in the conference. Next time out, the Aggies will host Colorado State on Saturday.