Aggies secure third place, honor seniors after win over Air Force
Utah State Men’s Basketball finished their regular season with an 87-47 senior night victory against the Air Force Falcons on March 8. With their win, the Aggies finish the season with a 25-6 record and a 15-5 conference record, good for a third-place finish in the final conference standings.
Saturday’s win also notched the program’s 1oth 25-win season since 2000, which is tied for No. 12 in Division I basketball, all with a first-year head coach.
“Everybody’s going to want more. Everybody’s going to critique you … We have not stopped since we got here in April. We’ve worked really, really hard to try to connect to this community – to the youth, particularly – and it’s been so much fun, I’ll be honest,” said head coach Jerrod Calhoun after the game. “There’re a couple of games we slipped up and we probably hang a banner, but at the end of the day, it’s going to be about how we finish these next two tournaments that all those people out there and all of Aggie Nation will remember us.”
Utah State leaned on their top point scores Ian Martinez and Mason Falslev in the win, who had 14 and 18 points, respectively. Dexter Akanno was the only other Aggie in double digits, but USU got points from 10 of the 12 players that entered the game.
With Martinez’s 14 points on the night, he recorded his 34th straight game scoring in double digits, the longest such streak in the country.
“[Martinez] could score in his sleep. I mean, there are guys that are just natural-born scorers … He’s certainly, in my eyes, a first-team all-league player – a top-five player. Utah State’s been wonderful for him,” Calhoun said. “This kid’s been a monster here. He’s had two unbelievable years for these Aggies, and I think the fans showed him that love, and I’ve loved to coach him.”
The Aggies won the tip and got off and running right out of the gate. Deyton Albury knocked down a corner three on their first possession before Air Force answered with a three of their own. On their next possession, Falslev found Aubin Gateretse on an alley-oop, and the Aggies took back a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
Utah State scored on each of their first five possessions to start the game before missing a shot. After the Falcons’ initial game-tying three, they missed their next five shots, leading to a 13-0 Aggie run and an Air Force timeout.
The Falcons got a quick bucket out of the timeout, but Utah State responded with another eight straight points to give them a 24-5 lead with 12:25 left in the half. Air Force regained some of their composure, and the two squads traded baskets through much of the remainder of the half.
With just over six minutes remaining in the half and the Aggies leading 33-16, Falslev and Drake Allen led USU on an 8-0 run with threes from each and a dunk from Falslev. A few minutes later, Allen drilled another three to push the lead to 29 – their largest of the half.
Air Force hit one more shot before the break, and the Aggies took a 50-23 lead into the locker room.
Utah State dominated the Falcons in the first half, shooting 70% from the floor and 67% from three. They also tallied 10 assists on 19 made baskets and forced 10 Air Force turnovers.
“I think it was a big defensive game for us, just being able to be physical – guard the ball – and then it helps us get out in transition,” Allen said after the game. “We just focused on dialing in a little more on guarding the ball and a little less on people on the opposite side of the court or hugging up to our man … That’ll help with keeping people out of the paint, and that’ll make it hard for people to get shots.”
Out of the half, Utah State picked up right where they left off with a 14-3 run, capped by a fastbreak layup from Falslev to put them up 36. After a choppy few minutes with the teams trading baskets, the Aggies led 68-36 with just over 10 minutes remaining in the game.
USU proceeded to put the finishing touches on the afternoon by going on a 16-1 run to put them up by 47, their largest lead of the game, with 3:44 left.
The Aggies got production from everyone on the floor during their 16-1 run, which was indicative of the game overall. The highlight of the run and possibly the game was a high-arching deep step-back three from Akanno that put him at 1,001 career points scored. Akanno’s three was met with a resounding standing ovation from the 8,534 Aggie faithful in attendance.
“I had no idea until he was shooting the ball,” Allen said. “If I would have thought or known, I probably would have thrown it to him a little bit more. But no, that’s huge. 1,000 points – it’s hard to do. People don’t realize it’s pretty tough to do.”
Air Force would tighten the score at the end with a 10-3 run to close the game, and Utah State prevailed 87-47 to secure the No. 3 overall seed in the Mountain West tournament next week in Las Vegas.
After the game, Utah State honored their three seniors Gateretse, Akanno and Martinez who played their final game in the Spectrum.
“They’re just great kids. It’s hard to describe. When you take over a program, it’s really difficult … you’ve got to do a really good job of evaluating the character of the players,” Calhoun said after the game. “What hurts you is not the guys you don’t get – it’s the ones you miss on – [that] you bring into your program and they’re tough to coach and they’re tough to be around. I have not had to do that all year.”
The Aggies will now look forward to the Mountain West tournament next week, where they will take on the winner of UNLV and Air Force. They will be on the same side of the bracket as Colorado State, the second-overall seed. The game will be on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. PST on CBS Sports.