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Aggies narrowly avoid collapse vs GCU, pull off win to end losing streak | Sports



LOGAN — Utah State nearly let a 17-point first-half lead, and yet another chance to take a crucial lead in the Mountain West standings, go to waste Saturday evening against Grand Canyon. The Aggies pulled it off in the end by a score of 74-69 but certainly made it much more interesting than many would have expected based on how the first 20 minutes of the game went.

During that first half, Utah State appeared to be unstoppable on offense and back to their early-season form on defense. GCU put a lot of effort into stopping USU’s primary scorers, MJ Collins and Mason Falslev, and that laid more responsibity on the shoulders of the team’s secondary scorers. Drake Allen and Karson Templin answered that call by each hitting a pair of 3-pointers in the opening minutes and combined for 22 first-half points — 14 from Allen on pefrect 6-for-6 shooting and eight from Templin.

Allen finished the night with 15 points, two assists with Tempin also tallying 15 points to go with four rebounds and a steal.

“These last three games down the stretch, I got to be better,” Allen said. “I got to score the ball more with so much pressure on Mason and MJ and people really dialing in on them. I got to be able to make plays.”

Just as crucial for Utah State’s buildup toward that eventual 17-point advantage was its defense. Over the previous two games the Aggies have struggled mightily on that end, particularly in the paint. On Saturday, the effort was significantly improved, even against a Grand Canyon team that is very capable of getting the ball to the rim with its bevy of 7-foot bigs and talented guard trio.

Grand Canyon managed just eight points in the paint throughout the entire first half and only attempted five layups (making three) as part of a 27-point first half.

The Aggies’ pinnacle of dominance came at the 10:09 mark of the first half with a 29-12 lead after freshman guard Elijah Perryman hit a deep 3-pointer.

From there, the Lopes began a gradual, but effective, rally. It began with a flurry of 3-pointers, wich GCU making five triples across a five-minute span (for context, the Lopes usually hit around seven in their average game). Makaih Williams and Dusty Stromer were the main culprits in that stretch as they hit two triples apiece. That helped trip the Aggies’ lead from 17 at its highest down to as little as 10.

At the time, the 15-point burst from GCU wasn’t that threatening as Utah State’s offense barely slowed down itself. Each 3-pointer made by the Lopes got a requisite answer. Allen provided the best when he threw down a left-handed dunk on the head of GCU’s 7-foot-1 center Efe Demirel.

“Felt like my younger self,” Allen said of the play, later adding “Today I was just thinking, I only have two games left in the (Spectrum). Got to do something, right? Got to give something, give it everything I got.”

By halftime, the lead still sat comfortably in double figures with the Aggies up 41-27, despite that push from GCU. After the break, however, the Aggies’ offense finally cooled off, just as Grand Canyon began to find its offense again.

The 3-pointers made by the Lopes ended up doing more than just providing much-needed scoring for a cold offense. It softened up Utah State’s defense, opening the door to inside scoring. After scoring just eight points in the paint the entire first half, Grand Canyon scored eight in the paint before the under-16 media timeout of the second half.

“Statistically, they’re not a great 3-point shooting team,” Calhoun said. “And they go bang five or six [made threes]. So now our guys are hitting the panic mode a little bit about inching out, and now they’re getting downhill.”

Had Utah State’s first-half offense been maintained through the break GCU’s elevated scoring wouldn’t have been as much of a problem. But the Aggies made just 6 of their first 20 field goal attempts of the second half. And when a 9-0 run by the Lopes turned a double-digit lead into a two-possession game, the temperature of the evening skyrocketed.

Allen, who began the game perfect from the field, succomed to some of that pressure. As the game trickled into a one-possession contest, he had three trips to the free throw line within only a handful of minutes. He made just one of his six attempts.

Grand Canyon eventually managed to claw its way into a lead on a Brian Moore 3-pointer that gave the visitors a 59-58 lead with five minutes to play.

Facing a full-on collapse and potentially a third consecutive loss, Utah State needed something, a spark missing for 15 full minutes of game time and the better part of an hour in real time.

That something turned out to be “Falslev Mode.”

The junior guard put in four quick hard-earned points, two at the free throw line and then a layup snaked around the long arms of Demirel. That put the Aggies back up by three points, though it was Kolby King who put the cap on what became a 7-0 run by hitting a 3-pointer from the right wing.

Calhoun was the one to coin the term “Falslev Mode,” citing the influx of energy from the star guard as the turning point after USU yielded the lead.

“You could kind of see the look in his eye,” Calhoun said, summing up that run by saying “Mason Falslev took over. He activated ‘Falslev Mode’ in the timeout [saying ‘We’re not losing this game. We don’t lose games in the (Spectrum). Stay together.'”

Although Falslev didn’t dominate in scoring, with just 11 points to go with his nine rebounds and four assists, that leadership and confidences “(gave) us a boost” in Calhoun’s words.

The crowd brought its fair share of energy as well, The HURD coordinating its members to wear white and blue shirts in a pattern that resembled cow spots when looked at from a distance. And when King capped the run that put USU up 65-59 with just under three minutes to go, the noise was enough to make one’s ears ring.

“Really want to credit The HURD. I’ve been at a lot of pretty good universities. This was the best effort I’ve ever seen by a student body,” Calhoun said. “They are the toughest student section in the country, the most organized and I think the best. Just an unbelievable effort. It was awesome last night to see all those kids out there with the tents and the excitement. And they had a big part of this win tonight.”

Grand Canyon still had one last surge left in it, though. The Lopes pulled back to within two points, 67-65, with under a minute left. As the Aggies brought the ball up the court, letting the clock tick under 30 seconds, they didn’t strictly need a bucket but certainly wanted one to bolster the lead and turn the screws on GCU. Throughout the game in key situations, Utah State had passed the scoring torch from Allen to Templin, Falslev and King. On this all-too-important possession, it passed to Collins who found himself open for three and made the most of it. 

That play just about sealed the deal. GCU did pull within three points again after a Jaden Henley dunk, but Collins hit three of four free throws during the take foul portion of the ending to keep the cushion large enough to preserve victory.

Despite recent losses, circumstances around the league (primarily San Diego State losing to New Mexico) provided Utah State with another chance to be in sole possession of first place in the Mountain West Conference standings. In winning, the Aggies stand alone with a 14-4 record in conference play, ahead of both SDSU and New Mexico who each sit at 13-5 in league games.

A win by the Aggies in either of their next two games, next Tuesday at UNLV and next Saturday at home against New Mexico, would give them their second regular season title in three years.





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