Fresno State offers Utah State scare, however Aggies draw back for 87-75 win in OT

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LAS VEGAS — With inverse convention data, there weren’t many similarities between Utah State and Fresno State coming into the second spherical of the Mountain West Match Thursday afternoon.

However basketball in March isn’t a assure.

The Bulldogs erased an 8-point Aggies lead and went on a 12-0 run to flip the tide on the common season champs. The Aggies steadied the ship a bit and tied the sport up 33-33 with 1:38 left within the first half, however most of that got here from the free-throw line and a stellar efficiency from Nice Osobor when photographs from the ground dried up for the crew.

Utah State did not make a single 3-pointer within the first half on seven makes an attempt and had a troublesome time protecting tempo with a Fresno State offense that ranks as one of many worst in Division I basketball.

Even with the first-half setbacks, Utah State rallied within the second half to manage a close to double-digit lead for the length. However even with Fresno State in foul hassle and two gamers fouling out, the Bulldogs battled again and tied the sport as much as ship it to extra time.

The additional interval was an excessive amount of for Fresno State, and Utah State pulled away for a 87-75 win, with the Bulldogs solely scoring 5 factors in extra time.

The Aggies (27-5, 15-4 MW) advance to the semifinal spherical of the Mountain West Match Friday (7:30 p.m. MDT), the place they are going to tackle the winner of fourth-seeded UNLV or fifth-seeded San Diego State (Thurs., 3:30 p.m. MDT).

Early troubles plagued the Aggies when guard Ian Martinez picked up two fouls and was pressured to sit down a lot of the primary half two minutes into the sport. Over that very same stretch, Isaac Johnson picked up an early useless ball technical foul, after which a second foul a minute later to ship him to the bench throughout the half.

Although solely recording three minutes within the first half, Johnson took benefit of his enjoying time within the second half and ended Utah State’s scoring drought from behind the arc to offer the Aggies their first 3-pointer of the sport. He adopted it up with one other 3-pointer minutes later to assist the Aggies to a game-high 9-point lead over the Bulldogs (12-21, 4-15 MW).

Johnson completed with solely 8 factors and three rebounds, however his presence on the court docket helped modified the dynamics for the offense.

In Johnson’s absence within the first half, Osobor stored the Aggies within the sport with a 16-point, seven-rebound first-half efficiency in a full 20 minutes of motion. Osobor, who performed 44 of the sport’s 45 minutes, completed with 29 factors, 17 rebounds and 4 assists within the win

Darius Brown II, who performed the complete 45 minutes, completed with 17 factors, together with three made 3-pointers, 11 assists and 4 rebounds; and Javon Jackson added 16 factors and 5 rebounds.

Utah State was with out the service of Mason Falslev Thursday afternoon for an undisclosed motive.

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