Late Utah State comeback falls short in semifinal loss to CSU
Editor’s note: This article was updated on March 15 at 9:19 a.m. to adhere to AP Style guidelines.
Utah State Men’s Basketball fell to the Colorado State Rams in the semifinal round of the Mountain West Men’s Basketball Championships on March 14, 83-72.
“Our expectation at Utah State is to win championships in the Mountain West. We’ve won two regular-season titles. You know, we fell short,” Utah State head coach Jerrod Calhoun said after the loss. “We’ve won a couple of tournament titles — I believe two of those. We didn’t do that, so there’s an empty feeling.”
Colorado State, led by Nique Clifford and his 26 points, relied on above-average shooting to take down the Aggies and advance to the championship game on Saturday.
Aggies fall to the Rams in semifinals of the Mountain West Basketball Championship
“They got off to a quick start. They’re shooting the ball good right now. They’re playing really good basketball,” freshman guard Jordy Barnes said after the game. “I think that’s just what happens once you see one fall — you get some confidence going. That’s just what happened.”
The Rams opened the game firing, hitting each of their first four shots including two 3-pointers to jump to an early 10-3 lead. USU guard Mason Falslev responded with a three to tighten the deficit before the first media timeout.
Out of the timeout, Ian Martinez found Falslev on a pass underneath for a 3-point play, making it a 10-9 game with 15:32 left in the half. The Rams took control of the game from that point, ripping off a 15-3 run to open a 14-point lead.
Utah State answered with a run of their own, scoring seven unanswered to try and climb back into the game.
With 5:49 remaining in the half, Utah State trailed Colorado State 35-25 after a pair of free throws from Deyton Albury. The Rams ended the half on a 14-5 scoring tear to take a 49-30 lead into the break.
In addition to the hot shooting from Colorado State, USU struggled to make shots in the first half, especially from beyond the arc. The team was 2-11 from three in the half and shot just 37% overall. The shooting struggles were something that would plague the Aggies all game.
“We couldn’t make a shot. So once again, credit to Colorado State. Our 3-point percentage was just abominable. You shoot 21% from three, there’s a lot of rebounds to get,” Calhoun said.
The second half started with more of the same for each side. After a pair of Martinez free throws, Colorado State, led by Clifford, scored another seven straight points. The Rams continued to add to their lead through the second half, and it looked as if they were going to cruise to a blowout victory, leading by as many as 28 with 13:50 remaining.
With just under 10 minutes remaining and CSU leading by 27, the Aggies finally came to life. The team roared back on a 16-1 run, making it just a 12-point deficit.
Colorado State ended the USU run with three points from the free throw line. Utah State immediately answered with another five straight points, cutting the lead to just seven, 76-69.
Through the Utah State comeback, Colorado State went over eight minutes without a field goal and got just seven points from free throws.
“Every huddle, we just said we have plenty of time. We were trying to fight back and play as hard as we could,” Barnes said.
Ultimately, the Aggies waited too long to wake up, and their comeback fell short.
“We saw few shots fall and got a few steals and turnovers, and we started getting going, but we just ran out of time,” Barnes said.
With the Mountain West tournament and conference championship hopes over for Utah State, they now turn their focus to Selection Sunday and the NCAA Tournament. The Aggies are expected to receive an at-large bid and await their tournament fate come Sunday.
“We’re not out of it either. We will see on Sunday who we get,” Calhoun said. “Hopefully our guys will get a couple days of rest and be very, very motivated to see who we play on Sunday.”
The NCAA Tournament field of 68 will be announced at 4 p.m. MST on CBS.