USU MBB: Ashworth hits 10 free throws to lead Ags past Wyoming
LARAMIE, Wyo. — On a night when offense was hard to come by, guard Steven Ashworth pushed Utah State Men’s Basketball past Wyoming 65-55 on Tuesday.
“It’s really hard to win on the road,” USU head coach Ryan Odom said. “Our guys had to respond at half and I thought our guys did a nice job, certainly, throughout that second half.”
Tied at 33 at the break, Utah State only made two baskets in the first five minutes of the second half. Then it was Ashworth’s turn. He hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 40 with 15 minutes to play. From there on, he scored 14 of the Aggies’ last 25 points including 10 from the free-throw line. Before a miss with two minutes remaining, Ashworth hit his 47th free throw in a row, setting a new Mountain West record.
At the same time, the Cowboys struggled to score, missing 11 shots in a row in the final eight minutes, despite getting second chances on four offensive rebounds in that same stretch.
“We were able to find a way,” Odom said. “To hold them to 55 (points) in their gym is not an easy thing to do and certainly we’re proud of the defense the guys played.”
This was a total reversal from the first half where Cowboy guard Xavier DuSell scored 16 points including an 8-0 run by himself in the last three minutes of the half.
“DuSell came out of the gates pretty hot,” Odom said. “Played extremely well in that first half.”
On the bright side, USU was able to limit Wyoming guard Hunter Maldonado to 11 points, four below his average. Instead, Maldonado dealt out assists including a couple that set up DuSell 3-pointers.
But at the start of the game, it was the Aggies that were shooting well. USU went on an 8-2 run to begin the game, then a 7-0 run to build a 12-point lead with just under 11 minutes left in the first half.
After back-and-forth scoring, the Cowboys made a 12-1 run to tie the game at 33 in the final five minutes before halftime.
After trading baskets for a while in the second half, Ashworth took over to deliver the Aggies their third-straight victory.
Ashworth was helped on offense with 11 points each from guard Max Shulga and forward Dan Akin, while forward Taylor Funk added nine points of his own.
With the win, USU improves to 22-7 on the season and 11-5 in Mountain West play.
Utah State has a bit of a break before their next contest at UNLV on March 1 at 9 p.m. The Aggies are looking forward to their first break since after the Diamond Head Classic in December.
“We need it,” Odom said. “I told the guys before the game regardless of this result you got two days off tomorrow to kind of recharge and get ready.”
The UNLV game will be broadcast on Aggie Radio 92.3 FM.
Featured image by Heidi Bingham from the SDSU home game.