MBB: Aggies buck Broncos on senior night
LOGAN — Utah State was on a mission Saturday night in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. They knew they had to prove themselves to the selection committee of the NCAA Tournament as well as set themselves up for success in the Mountain West tournament next week.
On top of that, it was senior night. Five Aggies — RJ Eytle-Rock, Dan Akin, Taylor Funk, Trevin Dorius and Sean Bairstow — were honored before the game. Head coach Ryan Odom knew he need to help his team lock-in.
“Senior nights are really hard,” Odom said. “ It’s very emotional — it’s really hard. And then when you add that on top of seeing your mom or your dad or whoever, your loved ones before the game, it just sets a tone that it’s in your thoughts. We tried to diffuse that a little bit with the pregame talk with the guys.”
In that talk, he told them about a player he coached in the past that threw a ball celebrating his surpassing 1,000 points into the crowd when he was awarded it on senior night. He only cared about beating the team across the court from him.
“I encouraged the guys when you’re out there on senior night and you’re out there with your parents, I want you thinking about that guy throwing the ball into the stands,” Odom said. “Don’t get distracted about what’s happening right now. We want to honor you and we have and we will. But at the same time, you have a job to do.”
That’s the mentality USU took into the game and Dorius set the tone with a one-handed slam-dunk to finish an alley-oop for the first basket of the game. From then on, Utah State was all business.
In the first five minutes, forward Taylor Funk stepped up big for the Aggies. On the Aggies’ first miss, he grabbed the offensive board and got the putback. He did it again on USU’s second miss. With those buckets, Funk had started an offensive performance that would snap him out of a dry spell of five games where he only scored double-digits once.
Odom said he talked with Funk at practice on Friday about relaxing, taking the pressure off himself and making the best choice when shooting.
“The key is taking the right ones,” Odom said. “He certainly did that tonight. And you see that first one go in right then, all right, the next one probably has a better chance.”
Funk also hit his first 3-pointer. That shot was in the middle of a 9-0 run from Akin and Funk over a minute and a half to take a 17-9 lead just over five minutes into the game.
Boise State’s Chibuzo Agbo kept the Broncos in the game early as he scored 10 of BSU’s first 16 points including two 3-pointers.
The Aggies built their lead to double-digits on an 8-0 run that ended with just over six minutes left before halftime. After another 3-pointer from Agbo, Bairstow hit back-to-back buckets and Funk and guard Steven Ashworth hit back-to-back triples to push the lead to 20, 47-27.
The Broncos got in some damage-control before the break scoring six points before the buzzer to make the halftime score 47-33 in favor of Utah State.
The Aggies built their lead with high-percentage looks by attacking the paint in the first half, outscoring Boise State 24-10 in the key. Utah State shot 62% from the field in the first half on 29 attempts.
USU’s transition offense was also key with Ashworth leading the charge. In the first 20 minutes, he was a ballhawk picking the pockets of Boise State four times. The Aggies scored 10 points off of those turnovers with Ashworth banging in two 3-pointers.
In the second half, Boise State slowly picked at Utah State’s lead by getting stops, but USU was still shooting above 50% from the field.
Starting in the final five minutes, Bronco guard Marcus Shaver Jr. — who Aggie fans may remember hit the game-winner for Boise State in Logan last year — took charge. He scored seven straight points then added another layup to drop the USU lead to six points, 77-71.
The Aggies knew the ensuing possession was crucial, but getting late in the shot clock, USU’s play fizzled out. That’s when Akin and Funk stepped up.
“The play kind of broke down,” Funk said. “Me and Dan, honestly, we made eye contact and he gave me a little head nod like ‘Come behind I’ll pitch back to you.’”
That’s what Funk did and when his defender went under the screen he nailed a 3-pointer to put USU up 80-71 with 1:52 left in the game.
“We have really good shooters and it could have been anyone,” Funk said. “The guy went under the screen and I think any of our guards could have shot that shot. It just so happened to be me.”
That three was the final nail in the coffin as USU was able to get stops on the defensive end to beat Boise State 86-73. Those 86 points were the most any team has scored against the Broncos this season and Utah State’s clip of 57.1% was also the best shooting percentage any opponent has had against BSU.
Funk finished the game with 24 points, eight rebounds and an assist. Ashworth was right behind him with 19 points, eight assists and four steals.
With the victory and help from a UNLV win over Nevada, USU enters the Mountain West Basketball Championship as the three seed. They will play the winner of the New Mexico-Wyoming game on Thursday at 9:30 p.m. MST in Las Vegas. The game will be broadcast on Aggie Radio 92.3 FM.
Featured image by Paige Johnson.