LOGAN – Utah State overpowered San Diego State in the final four minutes of its Saturday-evening showdown, going on a 14-2 run and claiming a 79-71 victory to shore up control of second place in the Mountain West standings while keeping hope alive for a regular season title.
Obviously, that run came at the most critical time but it defied the growing trend that had been building for the 10 minutes leading up to USU’s late push. San Diego State, after shooting 32.4 percent for the entire game to that point, suddenly couldn’t miss as each of its players turned into prime Steph Curry. The Aztecs drained 11 of 13 shots over the 10-minute span. The Aggies kept ahead for most of that span, hitting 8 of 15 themselves. But the shooting barrage proved too much and it looked as though they’d be overwhelmed. With 3:42 remaining, SDSU took its largest lead of the night.
“A lot of screaming, to be honest with you,” USU head coach Jerrod Calhoun said about that stretch. Really was disappointed in that stretch. We’ve been really on them to finish. We’ve been making it really hard in practice. We’ve been doing a drill, we called it the Nebraska drill, where basically you’ve got to get four to five stops in a row. You got to play through some fatigue and I thought (Nick) Boyd was just having his way.”
Utah State had controlled the game virtually the entire night, taking the lead early and not letting San Diego State get comfortable. There was some unwanted and unwelcome help in that regard, though. The Aztecs’ rising star center, Magoon Gwath, had to leave the game early due to a knee injury. The 7-foot redshirt freshman blocked a shot but fell awkwardly and only returned to the floor with a pair of crutches and ice on his knee.
“I got three calls in the last two days from NBA scouts [about Gwath],” Calhoun said, “so him not playing obviously impacted their team and I hope for his sake first and foremost with their team that he gets healthy. He’s a wonderful player.”
San Diego State couldn’t get things going on offense for quite a while, starting the game shooting 1 for 10. The Aggies gradually built their lead, with a 13-4 lead eight minutes in and later using an 11-1 run to take a commanding 29-15 lead.
Ian is COOKIN and so is the Spectrum 😤@IanJumaine pic.twitter.com/OlGzLGltsU
— USU Men’s Hoops (@USUBasketball) February 23, 2025
Dexter Akanno played a massive role in the offense all night, scoring a career-high 26 points, largely with the help of a likewise career-best seven made 3-pointers. When asked if this was the “game of his life,” the fifth-year wing answered “up to this point, probably,” though he then turned the credit toward others for nabbing the win.
“I just give credit to my coaches, all the coaches on staff, and the players just staying composed and just carrying the game out,” Akanno said. “We knew it was going to be a dog fight and I thank God that we were able to pull it out today.”
7⃣ 3-pointers for 7⃣
That’s right. SEVEN. pic.twitter.com/GnWdEKiWHo
— USU Men’s Hoops (@USUBasketball) February 23, 2025
THIS IS A DEXTER AKANNO FAN PAGE‼️
He’s up to 26 points tonight, a new career high pic.twitter.com/8qiDqoJAlF
— USU Men’s Hoops (@USUBasketball) February 23, 2025
Two of Akanno’s senior teammates joined him in making massive scoring impacts. Ian Martinez did his usual with 18 points (Calhoun quipped that “he had 18 points and nobody’s going to talk about him”) with Deyton Albury scoring a season-high 18 points.
Albury didn’t make any 3-pointers, but he did have a trio of three-point plays, getting them the old fashioned way. In fact, he went 12 of 13 on free throws alone, the made free throws being a career high.
lol yeah good luck stopping that @deyton242 pic.twitter.com/riewwJhiR7
— USU Men’s Hoops (@USUBasketball) February 23, 2025
So much of Utah State’s offense late in the game came from Albury finding ways to score in the halfcourt, either at the rim or at the free throw line. He was a man even San Diego State’s elite defense couldn’t find a way to slow down.
“I take Deyton over all the guards in the Mountain West,” Akanno said. “Just so quick, so explosive. His first step is so quick, and once he gets into that paint, explosiveness is going to come.”
When San Diego State made its first move early in the second half, it was Albury and Akanno who responded. The Aztecs rallied from that 29-15 deficit with a 19-4 run, taking a 34-33 lead. Albury and Akanno accounted for 19 of the next 21 points scored by the Aggies. In that same span, USU went from trailing by one, back to leading by multiple possessions.
And in the early goings of SDSU’s run of 11 makes in 13 attempts, the Albury/Akanno duo were helping USU retain its lead. Akanno scored 10 points in a span of three minutes, punctuated by a Tucker Anderson 3-pointer, that gave Utah State a seven-point lead with 7:34 to go.
Tucker BRINGS DOWN THE HOUSE 🤯@TuckoA12 pic.twitter.com/JJkLcfFvgP
— USU Men’s Hoops (@USUBasketball) February 23, 2025
But despite all of these heroics, the Aggies found themselves trailing by four points against an elite defensive team that was refusing to miss on the offensive end. Right after Nick Boyd hit the layup that put SDSU up 69-65, the Aggies needed a made shot and some stops.
They got both.
Starting on the offensive end, Mason Falslev found Martinez coming off a screen and the Aggies’ star calmly hit a pull-up triple to pull them within one point, 69-68.
IAN. MARTINEZ. pic.twitter.com/h9nrnJdNa8
— USU Men’s Hoops (@USUBasketball) February 23, 2025
Coming back the other end and Utah State had to force a miss or turnover and got the former. BJ Davis, who made four 3-pointers in the game, blessedly missed a corner triple and Utah State quickly went the other way. A quick outlet pass found Martinez and he rose up for a 3-pointer from almost the exact same spot as the previous possession. But instead of a made 3-pointer, the Aggies got something arguably just as good. Davis was called for a foul, his fifth one of the night. Martinez went to the line and hit all three free throws to re-take the lead for USU.
With one stop down, the Aggies certainly needed another, and it was Falslev who came through made the big play on defense by swiping the ball from the hands of Boyd. This turnover didn’t result in points for Utah State, but it showcased the defensive resolve the team showed for each second of the final 3:27 of the game. On San Diego State’s next possession, Taj DeGourville missed a 3-pointer. Next time down, Boyd missed a layup and later missed a three of his own. All of these misses handed Utah State more room to work with. And the fouls piled up in the final minutes for San Diego State.
On five of the last six Aggie possessions, they were fouled and took free throws. And even though free throw shooting has been an issue for USU at times, especially in the clutch, no one flinched at the line. All 13 attempts the Aggies took in the final three-and-a-half minutes fell through the rim.
Utah State finished the night with a 32-22 advantage in free throws attempted and made 26 of those with SDSU only getting 15 from the line. The Aztecs were obviously less-than-thrilled to be on the wrong side of the free throw discrepancy (just as the Aggies were in their game at New Mexico).
“There was a foul on a 3-point shot,” SDSU head coach Brian Dutcher said, likely referring to Martinez’s attempt where Davis was called for his fifth. “I didn’t see it, the guys seeing the tape of it say (Martinez) took four steps and we didn’t foul him. Reffing is a hard job, these guys do it every night and they do it at a high level, but you need a call or two down the stretch. We were dead even at halftime on free throws, and then they shot ten more than us in the second half, and that cost us. Too many points from the line, 26 points from the line versus 15.”
The victory pushes Utah State to 14-3 in Mountain West play, 24-4 overall, keeping the Aggies within one game of New Mexico (14-2) for first place in the standings. Although getting the No. 1 seed in the Mountain West Tournament is a far cry, with the Lobos having to lose more than one more game the rest of the way with USU winning out, snagging a share of the regular season crown is within reach with a little help.
New Mexico will travel to San Diego State next with Utah State’s next game being at Boise State on Wednesday. The Broncos have hit a dangerous run of form, including a win over the Lobos earlier this week.
