Aggies weather comeback attempt by Air Force for wire-to-wire win – Cache Valley Daily
Utah State guard Sean Bairstow (2) drives around Air Force forward Rytis Petraitis (31) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game at Air Force Academy, Colo., Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023. (Parker Seibold/The Gazette via AP) COLORADO SPRINGS – Utah State didn’t make its 77-65 win over Air Force easy on itself despite building a 21-point lead in the first half and had to sweat out the last few minutes clinging to a borderline double-digit lead, constantly on the cusp of leaving the door open for the Falcons to steal a win. Utah State didn’t make a field goal in the final eight minutes and 39 seconds of the game, making it that much harder to outlast a push from a young Air Force team determined to hold its own against the 23rd-ranked team in the NET. The Aggies were up 44-28 at the end of the first half, courtesy of shooting 65.5 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes. Most of that production came inside the arc as USU sought to exploit its extreme height advantage. The Aggies took 20 of its 30 first-half shots inside the paint and wound up scoring 32 points inside