USU MBB: Spartans get revenge behind 27 from Omari Moore
SAN JOSE, Calif. — San Jose State defeated Utah State Men’s Basketball 69-64 on Saturday night for the first Spartan victory over the Aggies since 2018. SJSU guard Omari Moore took the game into his own hands in the second half and blew past Aggie defenders to finish with 27 points.
“I just don’t think we played to what we know we can do,” guard Sean Bairstow said. “We didn’t finish the plays that we usually do and just didn’t make the plays at the end of the game that we needed to.”
Head coach Ryan Odom said that the Aggies just couldn’t get it done while Moore was able to consistently finish contested shots down the stretch.
“You have to score and you have to get the stop when you need them,” Odom said. “We weren’t able to do that tonight and they were.”
Utah State did have one final chance at the end when forward Taylor Funk put up a would-be game-tying 3-pointer in the final seconds, but it was deflected and the officials ruled the contact a clean block by SJSU forward Tibet Gorener. The color commentator on the TV broadcast and fans online seemed to think there was contact by Gorener on Funk’s wrist, but Odom said that referees “don’t typically call those during that time of the game.”
“Obviously it got deflected in some way, but it’s part of it,” Odom said. “You don’t want to be in that situation.”
After a loose-ball foul following the block, SJSU hit two free throws to seal their five-point victory.
To begin the game, Utah State got off to a slow start in the Bay Area. With five Aggie turnovers in the first six minutes, San Jose State built an 11-point lead before USU hit their first field goal to stop a 13-2 Spartan run.
The Aggies got back into it with a 15-4 run over six minutes led by eight points in the paint from forward Dan Akin. Utah State took their first lead of the game, 19-17, on an alley-oop dunk from center Trevin Dorius assisted by Bairstow.
Things went back and forth for the rest of the half. In the final seconds, USU had a chance to push their lead to six points, but Dorius missed a layup and Moore hit a buzzer-beating three to cut the Aggie lead to 32-31 at the break.
Out of the locker room, Dorius put together crucial minutes for Utah State. He put in the Aggies’ first seven points of the half before picking up his fourth personal foul with about 16 minutes left to play.
“I think Trevin did a good job to start that second half,” Odom said. “Got some baskets in and around the rim.”
Dorius finished with 11 points and five rebounds in just 12 minutes played.
The Aggies were able to lead or be tied for the first 13 minutes of the second half, but they were never able to pull away and instead “let them back into it” by putting the Spartans into the bonus with 11 minutes left in the game.
“They’re just shooting free throws and we’re having to work for our baskets a lot more,” Bairstow said.
That’s also when Moore took over scoring 16 of SJSU’s last 24 points. He finished downhill on layups and made tough jumpers look easy.
Stat-wise, guard Steven Ashworth led the Aggies with 14 points, nine of them coming from the charity stripe. Four other Aggies finished with double-digit points including Dorius, Akin, Bairstow and guard Max Shulga.
With the loss, it seems USU’s chances at an at-large NCAA Tournament bid are nearly gone if not totally gone, according to bracket predictors. The Aggies were already on the bubble heading into the contest. Utah State will likely need to make a deep run in the Mountain West tourney, if not win it, along with a good finish in their final five games to get a shot at the big dance.
USU falls to 19-7 on the season and 8-5 in conference play. The Aggies return home to host Air Force on Valentine’s Day at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on Aggie Radio 92.3 FM.
Featured image by Heidi Bingham from the SDSU home game.