Utah State holds on in overtime victory over Montana State
Utah State Men’s Basketball welcomed Montana State to town for a Saturday afternoon basketball matinee in front of 8,189 fans inside the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on Nov. 29. After a physical game that needed an overtime period to find a winner, Utah State prevailed 84-81 over the visiting Bobcats.
With the win, the Aggies move to 7-0 on the year and pick up their fourth straight win over MSU.
“We definitely learned some things from that game, and we’ll get better next week,” said junior forward Karson Templin after the win. “We’re happy with the win, not too happy with how we played, but on to the next.”
Neither team got off to a particularly strong start, with the game tied at two over three minutes in. After USU took a 7-2 lead, Montana State ripped off a 10-0 run to take a 12-7 lead and force a timeout from USU head coach Jerrod Calhoun. The Aggies then responded with a quick run of their own, with five straight points from Kolby King to tie the game at 12.
Utah State would lead for the rest of the half, with each team trading short bursts but neither able to make up much ground. The Aggies took a 36-34 lead into the break.
The Bobcats controlled the half from a physicality standpoint, outrebounding Utah State 24-15 with a 10-2 advantage on offensive rebounds in the first half that led to 10 second-chance MSU points. They also tallied 14 points in the paint compared to USU’s 10.
“We got manhandled,” Calhoun said. “That’s probably the biggest disappointment tonight.”
The Aggies stayed in control in the half with their sharp shooting, as they connected on 48% of their first-half shots and 43% of threes while holding Montana State to just 34% and 17%, despite the Bobcats taking 12 more shots than Utah State in the half.
“We just couldn’t really get anything going around the rim. So, we really stopped throwing it in there,” Calhoun said.
The second half was more of the same from both sides, as neither team could gain much distance for the majority of the period. Utah State did better in the second half from a physicality standpoint, limiting the Bobcats’ offensive rebounds and points in the paint, but then struggled to shoot the ball, making just one 3-pointer on four attempts in the second half.
The Aggies grew their lead to as much as eight points early in the second half, but Montana State was able to methodically work it down to a tie game at 55 all with just under seven minutes to play.
Four quick points from Templin then put the Aggies back ahead.
With two minutes remaining, Templin got another bucket to grow the USU lead to six. Montana State, led by Patrick McMahon and his game-high 26 points, then went on an 8-0 run to take a 69-67 lead with 53 seconds remaining. Utah State knocked down a pair of free throws to tie it up with 40 seconds remaining, though neither team was able to capitalize on its final possession before time ran out in regulation with the teams tied at 79.
To start overtime, MSU guard Davian Brown, younger brother of former Aggie Darius Brown II, hit a fade-away jumper in the lane on back-to-back Bobcat possessions to give them the lead. Brown was answered each time by the Aggies, once on a three from MJ Collins Jr. and another on a Templin layup. Collins led USU once again with 23 points on the day.
After a defensive stop from Utah State, the Aggies came up empty on a three from Collins and the rebound fell to the Bobcats. Mason Falslev then quickly knocked the ball out of bounds off McMahon to give USU another possession, where he hit a floater in the paint to give the Aggies a 76-73 lead.
Falslev ended the game with 17 points, 8 rebounds, 5 steals and multiple more forced turnovers, including several coming late in the game that helped push the Aggies over the top.
“He’s one of the best players in the league, so he should make those plays. And I thought he was quicker to the ball than those guys at the end of the game. He willed us,” Calhoun said. “He and [Templin], I thought, won the game.”
Despite two heroic threes on the next Bobcat possessions, a trio of Drake Allen, Collins and King hit six more free throws in a row to ice the game. After starting the game just 8-16 from the charity stripe, Utah State made each of its final 10 free-throw attempts to close out the win.
Next up, the Aggies will take another trip to the East Coast to face South Florida on Thursday and Charlotte on Sunday as they look to continue their non-conference success.