Senior trio leads Utah State past San Diego State
Utah State Men’s Basketball gutted out a 79-71 win over San Diego State on Saturday night in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. The Aggies got big performances from senior guards Dexter Akanno, Deyton Albury and Ian Martinez.
Akanno ended the night with a career-high 26 points, hitting seven of his nine three-point attempts. Albury also ended with a career-high 18 points and knocked down 12 of his 13 free throw attempts, going 10-10 in the second half.
Martinez added another 18 points to the mix for a total of 62 points between the three players. No other Aggie had more than six.
“I give Deyton and Dexter a ton of credit. You know, we now just assume Ian’s going to get 17 or 18 a game, right? I mean, he had 18 points, and nobody’s going to talk about him,” said head coach Jerrod Calhoun after the game. “You know, Martinez is as solid as they come. I think he’s an All-Mountain West player, first team, terrific player. But I thought [Akanno] and [Albury] were tremendous tonight.”
San Diego State controlled the opening tip but struggled to get the wheels turning out of the gate. The Aztecs started the game shooting just 1-10 and had only four points at the under-12 media timeout.
Adding to San Diego State’s early struggles was forward Magoon Gwath going down under the basket after blocking a shot from Akanno and hyper-extending his knee. Officials allowed play to continue which shortly turned into a Martinez fast break dunk essentially on top of the injured Gwath, angering the Aztec bench.
Gwath, who averages nearly nine points and 26 minutes per game for the Aztecs, was helped off the floor and into the locker room and did not return to play.
Despite San Diego State’s sluggish start, the Aggies were unable to capitalize and only scored 14 points in the first ten minutes. Both teams picked up the pace later in the half with the Aggies leading by as many as 14 in the period.
Utah State’s advantage in the first half came from beyond the arc, with USU knocking down six of their 13 triples, four coming from Akanno alone, and SDSU hitting just three of 14.
“I think it’s more just focusing on winning the game,” Akanno said on his shooting performance. “I think if I just play my heart out and focus on winning the game, that takes pressure out and pressure away from me and just my teammates as well.”
San Diego State was able to climb back before the break, and Utah State led 33-26 at the half.
San Diego State came out of the half looking to continue their hot first-half finish and did just that. The Aztecs scored five quick points out of the gate, leading to a Utah State timeout just over a minute into the half.
Another quick three out of the timeout pushed the run to eight straight and gave SDSU their first lead of the game at 34-33.
The Aggies responded to the Aztec’s run with a 7-0 run of their own to take the lead back and a stretch where they held San Diego State to just 1-8.
The Aztecs were not done fighting, though, and continued to battle through the middle part of the second half. With just over 14 minutes left in the half, USU found themselves up 40-35 after their 7-0 run.
San Diego State proceeded to hit 14 of their next 16 shots, including a stretch of eight made field goals in a row. At the end of their run of hot shooting, the Aztecs led by just four, 69-65, despite scoring 32 points in just over 10 minutes.
“Just offensive concepts. Just kind of watching the tape and, you know, figuring out switches,” Calhoun said on their offensive strategy during the second half.
Not only were the Aggies able to weather the Aztec storm, but their largest lead of the half to that point came during the stretch after Tucker Anderson hit a fast-break corner three. The answer for USU came primarily from a combination of Akanno and Albury, who scored a combined 19 points during the same 10-minute stretch.
The combo of senior guards was the answer all night for the Aggies but especially late in the game.
With 3:42 remaining in the game, Utah State found themselves down by four after San Diego State had just hit eight shots in a row. In a flip of the switch, the Aggies seemingly put a lid on the basket and didn’t allow an Aztec field goal for the rest of the game.
“It sounds simple but just keeping demand with the ball in front of you and staying out of rotations,” Calhoun said. “I kind of took this really, really personally that I’m going up against one of the best defensive coaches in the country … I have a ton of respect for him. He knows that.”
Utah State hit just one field goal the rest of the way, a three from Ian Martinez who had 18 points on the night. The Aggies still managed to close the game on a 14-2 run, shooting 11 free throws and hitting all 11 of them to surge to an eight-point victory.
The Aggies and the Aztecs played a very physical game, with 47 total fouls and 54 free throws shot between the two teams.
“We knew, like I said before, it was going to be a dog fight. And, you know, the coaches did a great job of just preparing us, and everybody in practice was locked in, and we knew the kind of physicality that they were going to bring in,” Akanno said. “I’m just, you know, glad that we were able to pull it out today.”
“I credit the officials. I thought they did a really good job tonight, you know. And I think you have to give credit where credit’s due,” Calhoun added. “That’s a tough, physical game. I thought they let us play through some contact, which I think you should let the best players be on the floor.”
With Saturday’s win, Utah State moves to 24-4, 14-3 in the conference, and stays just a game behind New Mexico in the Mountain West rankings. The Aggies will next travel to Boise on Wednesday night to take on the Broncos with just three regular-season games remaining.