Utah State men’s basketball fell to the Boise State Broncos 68-63 in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum Tuesday. This marks the first time in the overall series between the two school that Boise State has won in Logan.
With the loss Utah State drops to 5-5 in conference play and 12-10 for the season while the Broncos rise to 16-6 overall and 6-3 in Mountain West play.
“It was a hard one, they are a good team,” redshirt freshman David Collette said. “I give them all the credit in the world. They came in here and did what they were supposed to do.”
The teams played neck and neck from the floor, each sinking 25 field goals and seven shots from the line.
Utah State was led by Collette in scoring with 17 points and had three other players in double digits including, sophomore guard Jalen Moore with 15, junior guard Darius Perkins with 13 and junior guard Chris Smith with 16. The Aggies shot 25-54 from the floor, 31 percent from behind the arc and 58.3 percent from the stripe.
Boise State was led by senior guard Derrick Marks, who had a game-high 23 points and three steals. He shot 4-6 from the three-point line and had five of the team’s 33 rebounds. The Broncos had two other players in double digits, sophomore forward Nick Duncan with 17 and redshirt sophomore forward James Webb III with 18. As a team they shot 58.1 percent from the floor and 44 percent from behind the arc.
“He’s made shots like, unbelievable how many times he’s made shots going down the stretch in games,” Utah State head coach Stew Morrill said about Marks. “I mean when you prepare for them you see it over and over and over again, he’s having an unbelievable year. He’s probably the MVP of the league. I mean, he has so much confidence, the confidence we don’t have, he has all of it. He’s just playing great.”
Morrill said that his team just wasn’t tough enough to play against such a physical team.
“You know when the game is on the line we can’t seem to make a free throw we can’t seem to get a rebound,” Morrill said. “You know they basically out toughed us in a lot of areas. I didn’t think we took anything away from them. Give them all the credit in the world, they played to their strengths.”
Boise State took first blood in the game with a three from Marks. They continued to lead by as much as six until a layup by Collette with 10:47 left in the half gave the Aggies the lead up one with a score of 15-14. The Aggies kept the game within 2, matching the Broncos stride for stride. With 4:48 left the play a jumper by Collette took the score to 21-21 for the fourth tie game of the night.
Utah State struggled to get the ball, allowing the Broncos two offensive rebounds which led to a layup by senior guard Igor Hadziomerovic to take the Broncos up two. poor ball handling by the Aggies led to a turnover on the next play by freshman forward Elston Jones and another by Smith setting up a dunk by Boise’s Webb III to increase the lead to four.
Smith said that the Broncos were just playing more physically than they were on the court.
“Like coach said they were just out physicaling us, getting loose balls and rebounds, stuff we needed,” Smith said.
With 2:49 left in the half Smith made a shot beyond the arc to cut the Broncos lead to one, but Webb III responded with a three of his own on the next play to take the score to 28-24.
A layup by Moore off of a missed three-point attempt by Perkins gave took the Aggies within three but a two for the Broncos preserved BSU’s lead going into the half 33-28.
After the break the Broncos continued to increase their lead, going up by eight on a three-point basket by Duncan. Perkins responded with a three of his own to cut the lead back to 38-33 with 16:49 left to play.
The Aggies continued to fight their way back and on a three-point play by Collette they tied the game at 47-47. The Aggies defended well on the other end forcing a turnover and returning the ball for another two points by Collette to take the lead.
After battling for the lead Perkins hit two three-point baskets in a row to tie the game at 54 and then a 57, but Duncan matched him play-for-play with two threes of his own to hold on to the Broncos three point lead.
A classic three-point play by Smith gave the Aggies tie game at 60 with 3:28 to go. The Broncos took the lead and never gave it up again at 2:56 in the game when Marks came up with a deep three off of a loose ball.
“It was a loose ball, people calling timeouts, I guess the refs didn’t hear,” Smith said. “It was a scramble and then the foul and he missed the free throw and hit the three so, just a scramble and we should have come up with the ball.”
The Aggies pulled the score back within two, but just couldn’t get over the hump. Boise ended the game on two free throws by Webb III 68-63.
“I told our team before that we would have to have one of our best defensive performances of the year to have a chance to win and we didn’t,” Morrill said. “They just got whatever they wanted, and that’s disappointing. We are kind of a soft basketball team right now. We are not very tough physically and mentally. We kind of reverted a little bit with our youth. 21 games in we shouldn’t not have confidence, we shouldn’t not play tougher than that, so it’s disappointing.”
The Aggies will return the Spectrum Tuesday Feb. 10 to take on Mountain West rival Nevada at 7 p.m.
Smith said of the upcoming Nevada matchup that the Aggies need to, “Just play harder and everybody step up and just play as a team.”
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Twitter: @missemilymduke
