Tag: usu bsu score

Aggies fight off another Boise St. comeback to win 70-61 at home

Utah State won 70-61 at Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on Saturday night, beating Boise State to pull even in the Mountain West standings.

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Game Recap: Utah State 70, Boise State 61

Aggies pull into three-way tie for 3rd place with BSU, Nevada

Contact/Follow @andrewdieckhoff & @MWCwire

Utah State bent but never broke as they evened the season series with Boise State on Saturday.

Utah State got revenge against their neighbors to the north, beating Boise State 70-61 at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on Saturday. While the Aggies led for nearly the entire game, the Broncos didn’t allow themselves to be put away for good until the final minute. The win pulls Utah State up into a three-way tie for third place with Boise State and Nevada.

The Aggies (19-7, 8-5 MWC) led by as many as 12 points during the second half, but they also let the Broncos stay within reach for the duration of the game. The deficit shrunk to as small as a single point after Riley Abercrombie’s field goal with just over a minute remaining.

But on the ensuing possession, the Aussie freshman was charged with a flagrant foul after pulling down Utah State’s Neemias Queta on a shot attempt.

The decision from the referees meant that the Aggies retained the ball after Queta made both free throws, and fellow USU star Sam Merrill added two more on the bonus possession. The Broncos were unable to score another point, as Utah State ended the game on an 8-0 run.

Queta led all scorers with a game-high 21 points, adding five rebounds and five blocks. Merrill contributed 17 points and four assists. Diogo Brito had 11 ponts and seven rebounds for the Aggies, while Justin Bean had 16 rebounds to go along with seven points.

Despite getting the win, Utah State will not be happy with their three-point shooting performance. They finished the game just 2-for-19 from beyond the arc, barely eclipsing the 10% mark. For a team with multiple sharpshooters, this kind of inefficiency simply does not compute.

They were bailed out in this instance, by a Boise State team that didn’t fare much better from three-point land. The Broncos went 6-for-29 from deep, good for just 20.7% on the night.

Senior guard Justinian Jessup was the only Boise State player to hit multiple threes, knocking down a trio of triples to extend his newly-earned Mountain West record for career threes made to 301. He is the first player in league history to surpass the threshold.

Jessup led Boise State (16-9, 8-5 MWC) with 20 points. Alex Hobbs had a second-straight impressive offensive showing, putting up 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting. After scoring a career-high 24 points off the bench against Wyoming earlier this week, Hobbs got the start in place of Abu Kigab, who sat out of Saturday’s game with a hip injury.

Derrick Alston Jr.’s struggles this week continued through the weekend. The junior went 0-for-7 and scored just two points against the Cowboys on Tuesday. His box score improved on Saturday, but he still managed only seven points on 2-of-8 from the floor.

Abercrombie was forced into extra action against the Aggies after RJ Williams and Robin Jorch both fouled out. Though he did have some success on the interior, Abercrombie was 0-for-5 from beyond the arc—and also committed the ill-timed flagrant foul near the end of the game.

UP NEXT

Utah State’s next matchup is a Tuesday showdown on the road against Colorado State (17-8, 8-4 MWC). Now that the Aggies have climbed back into third place in the Mountain West, only the Rams stand between them and San Diego State. A win in Fort Collins would give Utah State at least a share of second place in the league. It would also position the Aggies to hold firm in that position, with their final four games all coming against teams in the bottom half of the conference.

Boise State heads home to host Air Force (9-15, 3-9 MWC). The Falcons were the latest team to put a scare into San Diego State but were unable to seal the deal at Clune Arena. Dave Pilipovich’s team has been disappointing compared to preseason projections, but they are always capable of surprising an unsuspecting team. If the Broncos want to keep pace in the MW for second or third place, they cannot afford to overlook this midweek tussle, especially with a Sunday tilt with SDSU looming.

Andrew is a current USBWA member, covering college basketball for multiple outlets, including Mountain West Wire of the USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Busting Brackets of the FanSided Network. He also runs the Dieckhoff Power Index, a college basketball analytics system, and provides bracketology predictions throughout the season.

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Miraculous comeback by Boise State sinks Aggies’ at-large hopes

RayJ Dennis scored all of his career-high 19 points in the final 3:23 of regulation as Boise State fought back from a late 19-point deficit.

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Game Recap: Boise St. 88, Utah St. 83 (OT)

Broncos erase 19-point deficit in stunning fashion

Contact/Follow @andrewdieckhoff & @MWCwire

High drama in Boise means high stress for Utah State

It seemed for all the world that Utah State was moving past its early struggles in the Mountain West, leading comfortably in Boise with just a few minutes to play.

But a late Boise State surge propelled the Broncos to one of the most unlikely wins of the season in college basketball, the home team escaping with an 88-83 overtime win in ExtraMile Arena.

Freshman guard RayJ Dennis led the comeback charge for Boise State, scoring all of his career-high 19 points in the final three-plus minutes of regulation. Dennis shot 5-for-5, including four three-pointers. He was also a perfect 5-for-5 at the free throw stripe.

It was one of the most electrifying individual performances of the season—not just in the MW, but in the nation—and it came from one of the most unassuming players on the court.

This win wasn’t just unlikely—it was all but impossible.

According to Ken Pomeroy, the win probability for Utah State (14-6, 3-4 MW) peaked at 98.8% after Justin Bean’s free throws put them up 18 points with 4:10 remaining. The Broncos’ 0.2% shot at victory was about as slim as it gets.

But on some nights, college basketball simply refuses to be penned in by such limits.

Utah State’s collapse spoiled a season-high scoring night from its star player, Sam Merrill, who finished with 30 points on the night. Bean had a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Neemias Queta added 12 points before fouling out, but those performances weren’t enough to stave off the Broncos’ late push.

The gut-wrenching loss may be the final straw that breaks the back—and heart—of the Aggies.

With just over six minutes to play in regulation, Queta hit two free throws to give the Aggies a 62-43 lead over Boise State, matching the Aggies’ largest lead of the game at 19 points. Over the next two minutes, the Broncos only managed to chisel one point off of that deficit, with Utah State leading 66-48 with four minutes to play.

Then it happened.

RJ Williams drew a foul on Queta, the fifth of the game for the Portuguese sophomore. Over its next few possessions, Utah State alternated between missed shots and turnovers, resulting in a 14-0 run for Boise State that cut the Aggie lead to four points with one minute remaining.

After two Abel Porter free throws with eight seconds to play, Utah State held a 75-70 lead and looked like they would be able to survive Boise State’s big haymaker.

But Dennis came down and capped off his out-of-the-blue explosion, nailing a three-pointer with four seconds remaining.

Boise State’s comeback hinged on forcing one last turnover.

Justinian Jessup didn’t disappoint.

The senior sharpshooter was able to intercept Diogo Brito’s inbounds pass, and he quickly layed the the ball in with 1.3 seconds on the clock, tying the game at 75.

The two teams would take that scoreline with them into overtime. With the wind fully at their backs, Boise State drew first blood in the extra period—and never gave the lead back.

Jessup and Williams both finished in double figures for the Broncos, with Derrick Alston also chipping in 19 to tie Dennis for the team-high in scoring.

The win moves Boise State (12-6, 4-4 MW) to .500 in league play—something Utah State can no longer claim. The Broncos have had issues with depth at times this year, but the big plays out of RayJ Dennis and Max Rice down the stretch is a sign of growth for Leon Rice’s bench.

It’s a step in the right direction for a Broncos team coming off two straight losses to San Diego State and Air Force. Consistency hasn’t been this team’s strong suit this season, but any indications of progress are encouraging. If nothing else, it seems unlikely that Boise State will repeat its dismal showing in the Mountain West after last season’s mess.

For the Aggies, the loss not only hands them a losing record in conference play—it might have completely dashed any remaining hopes that Utah State had to get an at-large bid in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

Craig Smith’s team came into the season with massive expectations, but the Aggies have fallen well short of them. Utah State was pegged to win the league going away, with San Diego State a distant second in the league. Questions lingered about how the team would fare with Queta on the mend from a summer knee injury, but a 7-0 start to the season for the Aggies quelled those fears.

But since Thanksgiving, that narrative has been completely flipped on its head, with Utah State going just 7-6 in games since their holiday trip to Montego Bay for the Jamaica Classic. And things are getting worse in 2020, with the Aggies having won just one game in five tries so far in the new year. Those games include losses to Air Force and UNLV.

Even on the road, those were games the Aggies were supposed to win.

At this point, preseason projections have to be thrown out. Though it’s not entirely clear what is wrong with the Aggies, they are nowhere near where the prognosticators—myself included—thought they would be.

The Aztecs, meanwhile, are still standing as the last undefeated team in the nation.

Utah State does hold wins over LSU and Florida, but those victories won’t be enough to buoy the Aggies’ chances at getting an at-large bid. At this point, they may need to run the table the rest of the way to have a shot at one. Failing that, Utah State’s only way forward will likely be through the Mountain West Tournament.

They will have plenty of competition there, though, with San Diego State having already all but locked up their ticket to the Big Dance. No other team in the league can make such a claim, so the stakes will be enormous at the Thomas & Mack Center in March.

Let’s hope that all of those games can be exciting as this one was.

UP NEXT

Boise State: The Broncos will have something of a light week compared to their recent forays against SDSU, Air Force, and Utah State. On Saturday, Boise State hosts Fresno State (6-12, 2-5 MW), who has struggled to the tune of a 2-5 start in league play. The Bulldogs have weapons, though. Leon Rice would do well to remind his team not to rest on their laurels, especially with no midweek game to keep them sharp.

Utah State: The Aggies will look to right the ship at home against Air Force (9-10, 3-4 MW). Remember: this team beat the Aggies by 19 points just two weeks ago. The Falcons’ offense has been impressive behind the play of Ryan Swan and Lavelle Scottie, but Dave Pilipovich has yet to field a consistent winner on the year. Utah State will also host San Jose State (6-13, 2-5 MW) next Saturday.

It’s not a stretch to say that these are must-win games for Utah State if they are to have any hope at getting into the NCAA Tournament through the front door.

Andrew is a current USBWA member, covering college basketball for multiple outlets, including Mountain West Wire of the USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Busting Brackets of the FanSided Network. He also runs the Dieckhoff Power Index, a college basketball analytics system, and provides bracketology predictions throughout the season.

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