LOGAN — On Saturday afternoon in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, 27 won against 32 as senior guard MJ Collins’ 27 points led the Utah State Aggies to a win and outright Mountain West men’s basketball championship, 94-90, over the New Mexico Lobos and the 32 points from their freshman guard Jake Hall.
Were it not for the efforts of Hall, the Lobos would likely not have been anywhere near close in this contest. Utah State was cruising early, looking as though it’d repeat the successes of the 20-point blowout the Aggies pulled off back on Feb. 4.
Utah State opened up a 22-10 lead nine minutes into the game. The Aggies made seven of their first 10 field goal attempts. The Lobos were just 4-for-15 to start the game.
Then, Hall began his rampage.
The freshman went off for 19 first-half points, including four triples, which led New Mexico from the depths of a 12-point road deficit to a 43-42 lead at halftime. Hall ended up making seven 3-pointers, one of just seven visiting players to do so in the Spectrum since 20024.
Utah State head coach Jerrod Calhoun praised Hall’s poise for his young age.
“To come in and make seven threes as a freshman in this environment. He’s a real deal,” Calhoun said.
For much of the game, the Aggies’ defense simply couldn’t keep track of Hall and the star freshman made them pay.
“He just went off. I though his teammates did an incredible job of finding him,” Calhoun said. “We got lost a few times on brushes, with our coverages. So he just went off.”
Nearly all of Utah State’s focus at halftime came on defense. Calhoun watched as much film as he could cram in the 15-minute break. With six minutes to go until the teams had to step back on the court, he went over the halftime adjustments and areas that needed refocussing.
“Defensively we just really messed up a lot of switches. Our switching was terrible, really, really bad,” Calhoun said. “Offensive, we got whatever we wanted. I mean, we scored 42 at halftime. So didn’t really watch the offense. It was more about the defense. What kind of adjustments can you make?”
After getting everyone on the same page with switching and some other pick-and-roll coverage details, the Aggies came out of halftime read to roll. And the renewed defensive focus and ended up holding the Lobos to just two points in the first four minutes of the half. And with the offense still doing fine, it resulted in a 13-2 run, flipping the brief one-point deficit back to a nearly double-digit lead as the Aggies re-took control of the game.
However, Hall was still lurking and working to keep his team in the game and championship hunt by giving Utah State all it could handle.
With still 13 minutes to play in the game, Hall hit his seventh triple of the game and in that moment surpassed 30 points — just the 16th visiting player in the Spectrum to reach that mark. He was shooting 73.3% from the field, 70% percent from three and had just cut down USU’s lead to five points, 64-59 (which also started a 6-0 Lobos run that trimmed the lead down to just two points).
But from that point on, Utah State’s defense took Hall completely out of the game.
Over the final dozen minutes (plus one) of the game, Hall went 0-for-7 from the field — all of those attempts coming from three. He had just two points, a pair of free throws with _ left on the clock. New Mexico tried to find ways to get Hall open again, but the Aggies blanketed him on the perimeter.
“I think the guys finally realized (Hall is) carrying their team,” Calhoun said. “There was more awareness, of like, we got to run them off the line.”
As Hall faded down the stretch, Collins rose. The senior had just six points at halftime, not particularly bad on his part but Calhoun wanted more from his star players and made his thoughts known to Collins and Falslev.
“Coach cussed me and Mason out going up the tunnel,” Collins recalled.
For Collins, the tongue-lashing certainly helped him focus to a degree, but he also found great motivation from the fact he was playing his final home game of the season. It was his final showcase for The HURD and for the fans. Not only that, but he knew an outright Mountain West championship lay at the end of this final stretch of road.
One final bit of motivation came from Collins’ own recent play and experiences. The Aggies had lost three of their last four game. Collins averaged _ points on _% shooting in those three losses. And he wasn’t about to go down swinging and missing.
“I addressed the team [after the loss to UNLV] and told them that it starts with me. I got to play better. And I told them that they could take my word that I wouldn’t let them down come Saturday. And I kept my word for those guys.”
Collins scored 21 of his team-high 27 points in the second half. Two of his biggest shots came mid-way through the second half. After the Lobos cut USU’s lead down to 64-62, Collins hit a 3-pointer to put the Aggies up five points. Hall hit two free throws in response but Collins drained another triple that pushed the lead to six points.
New Mexico made a heroic push late in the game, putting a scare into Aggie fans with a flurry of points that pulled the Lobos back from down nine points with 56 seconds to go, to within just two points, 92-94, with seven seconds to go.
Utah State didn’t falter though. Even though free throws have been a worry at times for the Aggies, they could barely miss on Saturday, sinking 30 of 36 attempts. In crunch time (the final four minutes), USU made 10 of 12 attempts at the line. Conversley, New Mexico made only six of its 11 free throws down the stretch after starting the game shooting 93% the rest of the game.
“The difference tonight was the free throw line,” Calhoun said.
Mason Falslev, despite dealing with a “bad tailbone” and a “messed up knee” according to Calhoun, finished the afternoon with 15 points, four assists and three rebounds. Calhoun made the case for the junior guard to be named Mountain West Player of the Year. Falslev would be the third Aggie to win the award if he did so.
“I hope coaches value winning,” Calhoun said. “I hope they value not just scoring. It’s scoring, it’s rebounding, it’s assisting. He’s on the best team and he does everything the best, in my opinion. His shooting percentages are good. It’ll be interesting how the votes go, but we’re putting him down as player of the year.”
Along with Collins and Falslev, there were two other USU players that scored in double figures — Karson Templin (15 points) and Drake Allen (14). The latter received high praise from Calhoun after finishing with not only the 14 points, but also a team-high seven assists and five rebounds (which was second only to Collins who had six).
“Drake Allen was unbelievable,” Calhoun said. “One of the best acquisitions we had this past offseason was getting him back, to be quite honest with you. We had some tough decisions at that point guard spot. Typically, the head coach and the point guard take all the grief by the media and the fans. Drake was a warrior all year long. The kid was incredible tonight and he won a championship. To be a starting point guard and win a championship, it’s hard to do, but he was awesome.”
Utah State will now get a few days off. Calhoun plans to let his team rest through Monday and then it will be time to get to work for the Aggies as they’ll prepare for the winner of UNLV and Wyoming. The Rebels and Cowboys will face each other on Wednesday with Utah State facing the winner on Thursday.
