Queta leads Aggies over CSU and into MW final
March is the month for winners. And March is Utah State’s month.
The Aggies are now 12-1 in the month of March under the guidance of head coach Craig Smith — undefeated against Mountain West opponents. The team’s latest feat during this hallowed month is downing Colorado State 62-50 in the Mountain West Tournament semifinal March 12 in Las Vegas.
“It’s hard to win period, and it’s times 10 when you get into March,” Smith said. “At this time, everyone knows each other inside, out and backwards. Scoring is very difficult. But our guys stayed the course.”
On a night when the Aggies made just 36 percent of its field goals, they needed every bit of grit to grind out the 12-point victory. Most of that grit came from its veterans — Neemias Queta, Justin Bean and Brock Miller — who have just about seen it all now that they are playing in their third Mountain West Tournament final. And it was those three who led the Aggies, especially on offense. Queta led all Aggie scorers with 18, Bean finished second with 13 points and Miller tallied 11.
“We’ve got a really deep group,” Queta said. “We don’t rely a lot on one person like the last few years. We had Sam Merrill, who was a great player for us, but this year we’re the definition of a team even more I’d say. Everybody can step up every game. Everybody can score 20 points every game. We’re a lot more balanced as a team.”
Offensively the Aggies were balanced, but Queta was a one-man wrecking crew on defense. The junior center blocked nine, yes nine, shots on the night. Alongside his 18 points and 14 rebounds, he nearly recorded just the sixth triple-double in Mountain West history but did manage to record the second-most blocks in a Mountain West tournament game, behind only Justin Williams’ 12.
Four of Queta’s blocks came in the final 97 seconds of the game, a crucial stretch where Utah State had to hold onto a lead that had dwindled from as high as 16 all the way down to seven. The final nine minutes overall was a sinkhole for both offenses.
With 9:50 left in the game, Marco Anthony hit what would be Utah State’s final field goal of the game. From there, the Aggies missed seven straight shots. Colorado State cut down the 55-40 advantage from Anthony’s shot down to 57-50 with 4:01 left on the clock. But from there, the Rams joined the Aggies in an inability to make any field goals. CSU missed 11 straight shots and didn’t score another point the rest of the way.
“We really defended hard and well and made life difficult for them,” Smith said. “They’re a high-octane offense. They can really get it going. They have a lot of weapons. Of course, it really helps when you have a guy like (Queta) that’s there that has tremendous feel for the game.”
Though the defense in the last four minutes was admirable, Smith said watching his team struggle to make literally anything was “agonizing.”
“We got out of sorts a little bit, maybe a little tentative,” Smith said. “We missed some clean looks and some good looks. And I thought we missed some opportunities. We always say, ‘look below you,’ so if you’re on the perimeter, you’re looking inside for (Queta) or looking for a cutter cutting to the rim. And I’m not sure we did a very good job. I thought we missed (Queta) three or four times where honestly we would have got fouled or a thunderous dunk.”
Utah State will face San Diego State in the championship game at 4 p.m. Mountain Time on March 13. It’s the third straight year these two sides have met in the Mountain West Tournament finale with the Aggies winning both of the previous matchups. The Aztecs come into the matchup ranked 19th in the AP Poll, though they were ranked sixth in the nation in last year’s championship game that ended with Merrill’s now-legendary shot.
In the two matchups this season, USU came away with wins, sweeping SDSU for the first time in program history.