Aggies bounce back after slow start
The Utah State men’s basketball team picked up a win in the first round of the Mountain West Tournament, defeating Colorado State 76-65. A big response to a slow start pushed Utah State into the second round of the tournament, with a matchup against Boise State looming tomorrow evening.
A lethargic start to the game left the Aggies with a large hill to climb, finding themselves facing a 20-5 deficit just over eight minutes into the game. A 1-11 shooting start from the field and seven turnovers during that span certainly didn’t help things for USU.
The fun for Colorado State didn’t last for long, however. Following the rough start for USU, the Aggies caught fire and cut into the lead quickly. Over the next eight minutes USU outscored the Rams 21-7, capped off by a couple of three-pointers from Aggie senior guard Julion Pearre and one from sophomore guard Kobe McEwen.
“We were sluggish to start. They took advantage of that and got off to a great start,” said Aggie head coach Tim Duryea. “Our defensive activity and intensity picked up and that really kind of bled through to the rest of our game.”
McEwen said he was proud of the way the team was able to respond to adversity and bounce back from such a large deficit.
“We just stayed together. We were poised, and we weren’t worried about what they were doing,” he said. “It was just us being ourselves.”
Though the Aggies had still yet to gain the lead before the halftime break, entering the locker room trailing 35-33, USU took the lead less than a minute into the second half and didn’t look back.
The second half was all Utah State, as the Aggies outscored CSU 43-30, had 22 rebounds to the Rams’ 14, and committed just six turnovers. Defensively, the team tightened up as well, holding Colorado State to just 11-31 shooting (35%) in the second half and allowing just two assists.
After snapping the 1-11 shooting streak, the Aggies went 27-45 (60%) from the field in the remainder of the game.
Utah State will face Boise State in the second round of the tournament tomorrow at 7 p.m.