LOGAN — A winning streak that dated back to another year and another presidential administration came to an abrupt end late Thursday night.
Colorado State became the first team to beat the Aggies in 47 days, pulling off an 84-76 victory in front of 1,592 fans at the Spectrum. Utah State (12-4 overall, 9-1 in the Mountain West) had won its previous 11 games, going back to a 67-64 loss to BYU on Dec. 5.
“A tough night for the Aggies,” USU head coach Craig Smith declared. “I thought Colorado State played a great game in every way, shape and form.
“They defended us well and made it difficult for us on the offensive end. You’re not going to win a lot of games if you give up 50% from the field.”
“They defended us well and made it difficult for us on the offensive end. You’re not going to win a lot of games if you give up 50% from the field.” — USU coach Craig Smith
The Rams (11-3, 8-2) were able to knock the Aggies out of first place in the Mountain West by rebounding from an 83-64 loss to USU on Tuesday night. After shooting just over 40 percent from the field in the first game, Colorado State shot an even 50 percent from the floor in the second game while also going 25 for 29 from the free-throw line.
“I’m so proud of our team,” CSU head coach Nike Medved said. “We challenged them pretty good after the the game, and I think we all realized we didn’t bring the level of intensity that it takes to win a game like this.
“What a great response from our guys,” Medved added. “I just thought we played our tail off, and it just felt different from the beginning.”
Although Colorado State had four players in serious foul trouble in the second half, no Ram fouled out of the contest, while sophomore guard Isaiah Stevens (18 points), junior guard Kendle Moore (16 points), sophomore swingman David Roddy (15 points) and sophomore forward Dischon Thomas (15 points) all ended up scoring in double figures. That foursome combined for just 41 points in CSU’s loss on Tuesday.
“I could go on and on about our guys, but the defense and the toughness and the intensity was just awesome and we had a ton of timely plays,” Medved said. “What a tremendous win for our ball club.”
A former assistant coach at Colorado State, Smith was 5-0 against the Rams prior to Thursday night’s game, which didn’t tip off until 9:10 p.m. to accommodate a national television broadcast.
“It’s a great win for them,” Smith said of the Rams, who sit in third place in the Mountain West standings behind Boise State (13-1, 9-0) and USU. “Like we said all along, they’re a really great team.”
Offensively, Utah State shot 42.2% overall, but the Aggies were a dismal 8 of 31 from 3-point range and went just 14 of 22 from the free-throw line.
Thanks to a couple of late 3-pointers, junior guard Brock Miller ended up leading the Aggies with 14 points on 4 of 10 shooting, while backcourt mate Rollie Worster finished with 12 points and two 3-pointers. Senior forward Alphonso Anderson added 10 points, as did Steven Ashworth, but the freshman guard knocked down just 1 of 9 3-point attempts.
Center Neemias Queta was perfect from the field (5-for-5) and the free-throw line (3-for-3), but the junior was limited to just 27 minutes due to foul trouble and ended up with 13 points, five rebounds and three assists.
Thanks to nine points from Queta and two 3-pointers from Miller, the Aggies got off to a great start, going up 19-9 less than six minutes into the game. But after making seven of their first nine shots, Utah State’s offense dried up abruptly while Thomas suddenly blew up for the Rams. The forward from North Carolina buried back-to-back 3-pointers, then added a six-foot runner and third 3-pointer in just over two minutes to deliver all 11 points in an 11-2 run by Colorado State.
“Even though we were down early, you could feel it in our bench and our team intensity and the focus,” Medved said. “Dischon comes in and knocks down a couple of shots, and we really really kind of kicked it into gear from there.”
While Thomas wouldn’t score in the final 11:40 of the first half, the Rams continued their hot stretch, scoring 18 out of 20 points to stretch their advantage to 27-21 with six minutes to go. Colorado State would go onto lead by as many as seven points before USU clawed its way back into contention down the stretch, pulling even at 35-35 on two free throws by Ashworth.
The Rams then countered with two free throws from Stevens with 11 seconds left to take a 37-35 lead into the locker room.
Smith said he couldn’t have been happier to only be down by two points, all things considered, and the Aggies did rally back from a 10-point halftime deficit last Saturday against San Diego State. And like that game, Utah State didn’t waste anytime at all wiping off their guests’ lead, scoring the first six points after intermission.
But the Rams didn’t go away, and when Queta picked up his fourth foul with nearly 12 minutes left in the game, that opened things up in the paint more for Roddy and his teammates. The two teams were tied six times in the second half, and the two teams swapped the lead back and forth a handful of times until Anderson came off the bench to bury a 3-pointer from the top of the key. That shot staked Utah State to a 56-53 advantage with 7:34 left, but that was as good as things got for the Aggies.
Colorado State quickly erased its three-point deficit with four free throws and two 3-pointers, and the Rams managed to hold onto at least a five-point lead the rest of the game while going up by as many as 12 points down the stretch.
“They out-competed us tonight,” Anderson said. “We didn’t come and bring it. ... We’ve just got to be better. We’ll be back at it at practice and look forward to the next one.”
Thursday’s game is the last home contest for the Aggies until Feb. 10 against Wyoming. They’ll play on the road at UNLV (Jan. 25 and 27) and Fresno State (Feb. 4 and 6) over the next couple of weeks.