USU Men’s Hoops fall to Saint Mary’s on last second free-throws

LOGAN — In a battle that went down to the final second, Utah State fell to Saint Mary’s in dramatic fashion on Thursday night. The Gaels used a second-half surge to mount a come-from-behind victory on Utah State’s home court. 

With just under a minute to play, Utah State trailed by two. Brandon Horvath was fouled and sent to the line. Horvath hit both of his shots to tie the game. Saint Mary’s called a timeout to draw up a play but RJ Eytle-Rock stripped the ball from Dan Fotu and sent it the other way. After two missed shots from the Aggies, a controversial loose ball foul was called against Justin Bean, giving Alex Ducas a one-and-one opportunity which he capitalized on. 

Utah State inbounded the ball with a baseball throw to Justin Bean who immediately called timeout, giving Utah State an inbound pass with 0.6 seconds remaining. Rylan Jones inbounded the ball with a lob to Bean in the lane but was double-teamed and after taking contact, wasn’t able to get to the ball, and it went out of bounds. The referees conferred briefly before calling game and leaving the court — resulting in a 58-60 loss for the Aggies. 

“Disappointed, unfortunate ending there, but you know, no sour grapes,” head coach Ryan Odom said post game. “It is what it is. We have to move on from it and learn from it. I know it’s early, it’s really early in the season and so where we go from here is so important. How we learn from these types of disappointments is so important. I’m excited for our team.”

Bean ended up with a game-high 19 points, 10 rebounds, 4 steals, and 3 assists. Steven Ashworth had 12 points, was 2-5 from three, had 3 rebounds, an assist, and a steal. 

Early in the first half, Utah State, largely due to Bean’s dominance, was able to control the pace of the game. Bean scored the first seven points for the Aggies and 9 of the team’s 20 in the first half. The Aggies led for the entirety of the first half with no lead changes or ties and a lead as large as eight. They would go into half time with a 20-16 lead. 

The second half contrasted the first. In the first half, both teams struggled to find the bottom of the net and Utah State’s scoring came primarily from Bean. In the second half, the offense picked up for both teams, and for the Aggies, the scoring was much more spread out.

Saint Mary had a blazing 44 second-half points which Utah State was able to match with 38 of their own. Utah State’s second-half scoring came from various places. Coming off the bench, Steven Ashworth scored nine in the second half including an outburst of seven points in under two minutes midway through the half. The final 20 minutes also featured nine lead changes and seven ties. But it was the visiting Gaels who led in the end.

Utah State now turns its attention to BYU, who it plays in Provo on Wednesday.