LOGAN – Ian Martinez set a new career-high with 32 points and Mason Falslev tied his career best with 25 as the Aggies held off the pesky Montana Grizzlies team by a 95-83 score on Monday night in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
Montana was picked to win the Big Sky in the conference’s preseason poll and showed exactly why, jumping out to a 9-5 lead and holding the Aggies, who were fifth in the nation in field goal percentage (57.4) to a 1-for-8 start from the field.
“Montana gave us a heck of a battle,” USU head coach Jerrod Calhoun said. “I’ve said it for three days, these guys I think will win the Big Sky. I really do. I think they’ll go to the NCAA tournament. I think their coach is fabulous. They have an identity. Winning DNA and they got a great tradition over there. They had the number two strength of schedule. They’ve been at Tennessee and Oregon. They weren’t coming in here backing down at all.”
USU’s slow start included included three shot missed inside the paint, or more accurately, three attempts blocked by Montana forward Joe Pridgen. The graduate senior stands only 6-foot-5, but played much taller than that in the paint and it caused Utah State plenty of issues early.
The physicality of the game is something Utah State wasn’t quite ready for, and manifested partly in the Aggies recording only nine assists the whole game after averaging nearly 27 through three games.
“They did a good job being physical with us,” Martinez said. “We just have to do a better job next time and next game to just try to stay solid whenever somebody’s guarding us and not let them push us and get us out of the offense.”
Montana also out-rebounded Utah State 37-33, which included 15 offensive rebounds for the Grizzlies.
Martinez shared the Aggies struggles early, perhaps having even more than his fair as he started 0-of-4 (all within that team 1-of-8 start). But he, along with the rest of Utah State, broke out of that funk with a vengeance. On the rest of their field goal attempts in the half, they shot 16 of 25.
Individually, Martinez hit four straight shots to recover from his slow start, including some 3-pointers with a man in his face, to start raking in points. He had 17 by halftime.
They call him 3-AN Martinez
⚡️ @IanJumaine #AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/cL9AoygcfT
— USU Men’s Hoops (@USUBasketball) November 19, 2024
“Can’t think too much about my misses,” Martinez said of recovering from his early slump. “I know the team needs me and so I just got to stay not too high not too low. Keep doing what I do for the team, which is, you know, score.”
Falslev, too, got going in the first half. He scored nine of Utah State’s final 11 points of the half (Martinez, fittingly, had the other two), joining Martinez in the double-figure-scoring-by-halftime club with 14 points of his own.
Jordy steal ➡️ Mason and-one#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/utmrIVjF18
— USU Men’s Hoops (@USUBasketball) November 19, 2024
With that hot-shooting from Martinez, Falslev and the team overall, Utah State build a 14-point lead, 49-35, at the break.
That kind of lead is typically not to difficult to defend, especially with the type of shooting numbers the Aggies were putting up. But while Calhoun told his squad at halftime “it’s 0-0” but perhaps that message didn’t quite make it through and Montana threw a haymaker that altered the game in a big way. A 15-3 run to start the second half eviscerated the Aggies lead, bringing it all the way down to just two points.
Montana wing Money Williams led the Grizzlies’ charge with eight of his 25 points scored in that span. He also added a steal that led to the layup that cut USU’s lead to two points, 52-50, with 16:01 in the second half. Williams, who has dealt with significant personal tragedy in his life recently, has had a dominant two-game stretch with 25 on Monday and 30 against Tennessee last Wednesday.
“Really, really, really good player,” Calhoun said. “When you’re the main guy and Tennessee knows you’re the main guy, and they give up 30 — we knew he’s the main guy, gets 25, he went to two very, very good programs and averaged 27 and a half points a game — you can put the ball in the basket.”
The key for the Aggies after that punch thrown by Williams and Montana is that the lead stayed intact. Utah State never allowed the game to be tied, and forged ahead despite the adversity. Falslev steadied the ship with a 3-pointer. That began the gradual process of manufacturing a double-digit lead all over again. It took eight minutes of game time, since Montana matched many of USU’s buckets, but by the 8:17 mark of the second half, the Aggies were up 10 again, 73-63.
Montana briefly cut the lead down to eight points after that 73-63 score, but a Drake Allen 3-pointer pushed it back to 11 and the Grizzlies were never within nine points again the rest of the game.
While the Grizzlies physicality contributed to their ability to hang with Utah State early, it also proved to be a double-edged sward and contributed to their downfall. Utah State shot 36 free throws, making 28. Martinez led Utah State in this category, going a perfect 16 of 16 from the line, setting a new program record for made free throws without a miss.
Calhoun had few qualms with the offense overall (though he did say they should have scored 110 points), what did irk him was the defense that allowed a season-high 83 points.
“We can’t give up 83 points,” Calhoun said. “We know we can get 90 to 100 on most nights. But we can’t give up 83 points.”
The Aggies were without starting center Aubin Gateretse, who was out with a concussion, which heavily impacted Utah State’s rim protection. Karson Templin started in place of Gateretse, and nearly had a double-double with 12 points, a career-high nine rebounds and a pair of blocked shots. But without the 6-foot-11 center roaming the paint, Montana shot 13 of 20 at the rim and had 42 points in the paint. Templin had four fouls and had to take a seat on the bench 37 seconds into the second half after picking up his third foul.
Additionally, Calhoun said Isaac Johnson has been in-and-out of practice due to minor injuries. Johnson played, but didn’t start due to not being available for practices most of the last week.
“That’s why we didn’t have great rhythm tonight,” Calhoun said. “We’ve had these weird lineups the last couple games. And then Deyton Allbury got [in] foul trouble. We’re just kind of juggling today. I felt like there was no rhythm to what we were doing. And it was the first time that I felt like a coach here that we were begging for effort. It’s not a good feeling.”
Calhoun said he hopes Gateretse will be cleared tomorrow to return from his concussion, which happened in practice late last week. The Aggies will need his presence as they hit the road for the first time this season. The first major test of the season will come in the form of a neutral-site matchup with Iowa in Kansas City. The Hawkeyes currently rank 45th in the KenPom rankings (four spots ahead of USU) and have the best offense the Aggies will have faced all season, averaging 87.5 points per game. That game will take place on Friday.
