Heartbreak in Las Vegas for the Aggies – The Herald Journal

LAS VEGAS With the first two quarterfinal games at the Mountain West Conference Tournament coming down to the final possession, the Aggies and Rams decided to make it three.

Yes, it came down to the final seconds Thursday night at the Thomas & Mack Center, which was not a good sign for the Aggie mens basketball team. Colorado States Chandler Jacobs made one bucket all game, but boy was it big. He scored with 1.8 seconds to play in what ended up being the game winner in a 53-51 victory for the 23rd ranked Rams.

I just want to give credit to Colorado State and (head) coach (Niko) Medved, USU head coach Ryan Odom said. I thought it was a really good college basketball game overall. Points were hard to come by. Defense was pretty solid. The intensity was, you know, what you would want in a tournament setting.

It was the ninth game this season the Aggies (18-15) were involved in that was decided by one possession. With the loss Thursday, USU is 2-7 in those contests.

It felt like there were a lot of lead changes there late in the second half, Aggie forward Justin Bean said. Just really back and forth. But I was proud of our guys, obviously, for how we competed. Certainly, we left it all out there.

The Rams (25-4) have now won four in a row and nine of their last 10. They were able to beat USU three times this season.

Theyre a great team, a tournament team for the past three years, said CSU forward David Roddy, who is the reigning MW Player of the Year, of the Aggies. We want to be at that level. And I think we can be. So, yeah, every time we play them, it's always a dogfight. They give us our best and we give them their best. They're a great program.

In the other quarterfinal games Thursday, the first two came down to the buzzer. Top-seeded Boise State escaped with a 71-69 win against Nevada, who missed a 3-point shot at the end. Fourth-seeded Wyoming held off fifth-seeded UNLV, 59-56. In the final game of the day, third-seeded San Diego State rallied to beat fifth-seeded Fresno State, 53-46.

Neither team led by more than five points and there were 10 lead changes and four ties during the game. Every possession became magnified as the game wore on.

You cant get too high and you cant get too low, said Bean, who had his 20th double-double of the season with 15 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. You just got to move on to the next play. And I thought we did that.

A dunk by Brandon Horvath and runner by Rylan Jones gave the Aggies a 45-44 lead with five minutes to play. The USU faithful were trying to urge on their team.

The Rams never got rattled. John Tonje made a fall-away bucket to put CSU back in front, 46-45, with 4:08 to play.

Our guys dug in, Rams head coach Niko Medved said. They found a way to make enough plays down the stretch. And they've been in these games all year and they never got rattled. And, hey, sometimes in this time of the year, you've just got to find a way to make one more play than your opponent. And that's what we did. Survive and advance. And we look forward to the semis tomorrow night.

Bean grabbed his own miss and scored to put the Aggies back in front, 47-46, at the 3:13 mark.

Both teams missed shots, and then Ram guard Kendle Moore banked in a shot just inside the 3-point arc to put his team back in front with 1:55 to play. CSU built a 51-47 lead with 54 ticks on the clock when Isaiah Stevens had a shot hit the front of the rim and crawl in.

The Aggies did not wilt. Jones drove in for a score to pull USU within two.

Steven Ashworth came up with a steal and fed Bean who was streaking down the court. Bean went hard to the bucket, drawing contact from a Ram who was hustling back. One official called a block, but the other whistled Bean for a charge. National talking heads later ridiculed the call.

We got the steal down two and the first thing I thought was get up the court, sprint and try to get to the rim, get a layup, Bean said. Saw two guys come in front of me and I tried to split them. And I thought I had the angle and they were -- I thought they were late. But, again, that's just basketball. You can't blame the refs, obviously.

I was hoping for a block, obviously, Odom said. But it didn't go that way. And, you know, I don't really have any feeling one way or another until I go back and really look at it. But there's calls every game, right? I make bad calls in terms of what we're going to run for a play or a defensive call. It is a human game.

The Aggies had to foul, sending Moore to the foul line for a one-and-one. He missed the front end, and USU was back in business. Bean was fouled and made both free throws with 12.3 seconds left to tie the game.

Jacobs then cashed in for the Rams as the clock wound down to prevent overtime.

Ashworth got off a wild shot from beyond halfcourt, but it was not close.

Proud of our guys for finding a way to win, Medved said. Kind of par for the course, right. You look at the first two games today, it came down to the last possessions. We just didn't want to feel left out. And you got to give a lot of credit to Utah State. That's a terrific team.

Horvath led the Aggies with a game-high 17 points and also grabbed eight rebounds. Jones had a team-best five assists.

Ultimately, shots just didn't fall like we wanted to, especially from three, Bean said. But like I said, that's basketball. And we have to live with the results and move on and learn from it. And like I was telling the guys in there, basketball, it's just a game at the end of the day. But everyone that came in there and played and competed, you know, they treated it like it was more than that. They treated it like it was their life they were playing for. And so I'm just proud of the effort from everyone that got out there and the guys that were on the bench. And unfortunately, we didn't get the win, but that's just basketball.

Stevens led the Rams with 14 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Roddy added 13 points.

Moore drained a 3-pointer less than 30 seconds into the game to get things started. The Rams built a 9-4 lead, prompting a timeout by the Aggies three-and-a-half minutes into the contest.

Baskets were hard to come by most of the first half. The Aggies did put together a stretch where they outscored the Rams 12-4. Bean scored the first four points, Horvath had the next six points, and Bairstow capped it with a layup off a pass from Horvath. The Bairstow bucket gave USU a 25-20 lead with 5:16 left in the opening half.

That Aggie trio scored all of USUs points over the first 20 minutes.

Then the Aggies went ice cold offensively. The final six possessions of the first half came up empty. The Rams went on a 9-0 run over that timespan. Stevens drilled a 3-pointer just before the break to give CSU a 29-25 lead at halftime.

The Aggies ended their scoring drought by scoring the first six points of the second half to take their first lead since midway through the opening half. Bean scored on an offensive rebound to give USU a 31-29 lead.

The Rams scored six unanswered points to build a 37-34 lead with 13:50 to play.

Neither team could get any breathing room the rest of the way.

Now USU must play the waiting game to see if some postseason tournament comes calling.

I hate that were not going to continue on in this tournament, Odom said. But we'll see what else is out there for us. We'll wait and let the chips fall, you know, as they may.

Utah State began the day at No. 44 in the Kenpom rankings, up nine spots from Wednesday, while Colorado State checked in at No. 32. The Aggies are 18-106 all-time against Top 25 teams, including 0-2 this season. USU is 0-15 this season when scoring less than 70 points. The Aggies were 1 of 15 from 3-point range, tying their season low for 3-pointers in a game. USU fell to 2-7 on the season when trailing at halftime. The Aggies fell to 17-5 on the season when outrebounding its opponent as it had a 37-30 advantage on the boards. Justin Bean now ranks second all-time in MW and USU school history in career double-doubles with 46, while his 20 double-doubles this season are just one shy of Marvin Roberts 21. Bean ranks 17th in career scoring with 1,486 points and second in career rebounds with 1,011 as he passed Greg Grant (1,003) Thursday night. He played in his 125th game at USU to move into a tie with Jalen Moore for ninth. Brandon Horvath has now scored in double figures in 14 straight games. Brock Miller played in his 118th game, moving into a tie with Jeff O. Anderson for 13th in a career. ... The Aggies still lead the all-time series with the Rams, 66-43, the fourth most-played opponent.

Some shots didnt drop and some calls went against him, but Justin Bean gets the nod as he recorded his 20th double-double of the season with 15 points and a game-best 13 rebounds. The senior was 5 of 15 from the field, but made 4 of 4 from the free throw line. Bean also had three assists, two steals and blocked a shot. The forward played all 40 minutes.

The lane opened up and Sean Bairstow took advantage driving for a one-handed jam five minutes into the game. Brandon Horvath added to his team lead with a two-handed jam with six minutes left in the game off a nice pass from Rylan Jones.

Jones got run over with two minutes left in the first half for the first charge and only one called the Aggies way.

Season dunk count: Brandon Horvath 26, Justin Bean 20, Trevin Dorius 16, Sean Bairstow 12, Szymon Zapala 4, Zee Hamoda 1, Max Shulga 1.

Season charge count: Rylan Jones 27, Steven Ashworth 8, Max Shulga 4, Brandon Horvath 4, RJ Eytle-Rock 3, Sean Bairstow 3, Justin Bean 2, Travis Wagstaff 1, Trevin Dorius 1, Zee Hamoda 1.

The Aggies will have to wait and see if their season is over. They could possibly get a call from a postseason tournament other than the NCAA.

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Heartbreak in Las Vegas for the Aggies - The Herald Journal