Utah State falls to Colorado State in MW tournament quarterfinals

LAS VEGAS – Utah State came into their matchup with Colorado State having played the team twice prior in the regular season. In both games, the Aggies held a slight lead late in the game before eventually falling to the Rams.

Tonight, it was no different. USU took a one-point lead on a Justin Bean layup with 3:14 remaining before their eventual downfall, 53-51.

Bean had 15 points and 13 rebounds on the night. Bean now has 1,011 rebounds in his career with his 13 rebounds this evening. He becomes one of three Aggies to have over 1,000 rebounds in their career and ranks second all-time in Utah State history.

“That’s a really awesome accolade for sure. Very humbling,” Bean said on the stat. “There’s a lot of Aggie greats that have gone before for me, certainly, so just to be in that company is an honor.”

Graduate forward Brandon Horvath contributed significantly for the Aggies, pulling down eight rebounds and had a team-leading 17 points. 

The game would end as Utah State’s second-lowest point total of the season, but it didn’t look like that from the start. Midway through the first half, the Aggies already had 21 points and a slim three-point lead over Colorado State. The two teams locked in a defensive battle the rest of the way and USU scored just 30 more points through the last ¾ of the game.

With just under five minutes left in the first half, Utah State led 25-21. The Rams ended the half on a 9-0 run to take a 4-point lead into the break. 

Utah State came out of the locker room with intensity and went on a run of their own to take the lead back, 31-29. It was clear at that point that neither team would go down without a tremendous fight.

For every one that watched the matchup Thursday night, a tremendous fight was what they got. The game was tied four times and saw 10 total lead changes as the team’s traded buckets through the second half.

With five minutes remaining in the game, Rylan Jones drove around the left side, pulled up his dribble and buried a mid-range floater. 

On the ensuing possession, Colorado State’s John Tonje drove to the middle, turned around and hit a fadeaway jump shot over the top of an outstretched Bean. Colorado State took back a one-point lead.

With 41 seconds remaining, Jones hit a jumper to pull the Aggies back within two. Colorado State’s Isiah Stevens brought the ball up the floor, lost it up in the air where it was collected by Steven Ashworth.

Ashworth pushed it up the floor before he passed it back to Bean, where he drove down the lane and was met by two Rams. Bean collected, attempted to split the defenders when the whistle blew. Bean jumped up and headed to the free-throw line, thinking that he had two free throws to tie the game.

Despite the official underneath the basket signaling for a blocking foul, another referee called Bean for an offensive foul that gave the ball back to Colorado State with 14 seconds left on the clock.

“That was one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen, that was a block every day of the week,” said CBS Sports analyst Wally Szczerbiak. “I give (Bean) a lot of credit because he didn’t argue at all, I would’ve completely lost my mind.”

“I saw two guys come in front of me and I tried to split them. I thought I had the angle and they got there late,” Bean said about the call after the game.

The Rams inbounded the ball where they were fouled immediately. Kendle Moore missed the front end of a one-and-one and Bean pulled down the rebound, getting fouled during the process. Bean went to the line with an opportunity to tie the game. He converted, knocking down both free-throws.

With 12 seconds left Stevens drove down the court for CSU, found his way into the lane where he dropped off a pass to Chandler Jacobs. Jacobs put the ball up off the glass and gave the Rams a two-point lead with just 1.8 seconds left in the game.

The Aggies inbounded to Ashworth who heaved the ball from half-court, but the shot came up short.

I give up on block/charge.

Honestly, I do.

It’s so, so bad in college basketball it is beyond comprehension.

— Scott Van Pelt (@notthefakeSVP) March 11, 2022

“Points were hard to come by; defense was pretty solid. The intensity was what you would want in a tournament setting,” Head Coach Ryan Odom said. “You can’t control the results of how things in a given game go, but you can control your effort or attitude.”

Utah State moved to just 2-7 in one-possession games this season with tonight’s loss. USU blew out Air Force in the first round of the tournament, finding five Aggies with double-digit points. Tonight, they had just two players over 10 points and relied on three main players most of the game.  

“Points were hard to come by for both teams,” Odom said. “When you’re in a game where it’s in the 50s, you’re not going to have a well-balanced stat line. 

Utah State is not anticipated to receive an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament, which leaves them waiting to see if they will receive an invitation to the NIT.

“We’re looking at ‘what’s the next right thing to do?’” Odom said. “Whether it’s preparing for whoever they match us up with, if we’re fortunate enough to be in the postseason, or if it’s nothing.”

Featured photo by: Bailey Rigby