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FRESNO, Calif. — No. 22 Utah State beat the Fresno State Bulldogs on the road 77-73 in overtime late Tuesday night to retain first place in the Mountain West.
"I want to give a lot of credit to Fresno State," Utah State (23-5, 11-4 MWC) head coach Danny Sprinkle said. "They did a lot of stuff where they deserved to win the game. … I thought their kids played with tremendous energy and effort."
Sprinkle pointed out that the Bulldogs are without three or four starters lost to injury, and gave them kudos for their immense effort and near upset of a top-25 team at home.
It was not a pretty outing for the Aggies; in fact, Sprinkle said it was the sloppiest game of the year for their guards (who comprised four of the Aggies' five starting spots against Fresno State).
But at this point in the season, with postseason hopes on the line in a league as talented as the Mountain West, a win is a win.
"I don't care how they come," guard Darius Brown II said. "At this time (in the season) we could win 17-16 — don't care."
Utah State led by 5 at halftime, but went more than seven consecutive minutes without a point, and committed nine turnovers in the first half. The Aggies finished the game with 17 turnovers to Fresno State's nine.
In the second half, Fresno State went on a 12-2 run to take the lead with less than 10 minutes to play. They went on to extend their lead to 4 with just minutes remaining.
In the final minute, though, the Aggies fought back within 2 points and held their opponent scoreless on their attempt to put the game out of reach. On the other side of the floor, Mason Falslev was fouled on a game-tying layup attempt; he split the free throws, leaving the Aggies down 1 with just 12 seconds remaining.
Xavier DuSell, a reliable free-throw shooter for the Bulldogs, was quickly fouled and knocked down both of his free throws to extend Fresno State's lead to 3 with 7.5 seconds remaining.
Without any timeouts, the Aggies passed the ball into the hands of Brown, who quickly ran the length of the floor and attempted to draw a foul on a long 3-point attempt. The officials did not call a foul on the contact, but Brown banked in the long 3-pointer with just two seconds remaining to tie the game and send it to overtime.
"We shouldn't have even been in that situation," Brown said. "My mind was just on, like, 'Just get to overtime, please, and then we'll finish it out.'"
Following the game, Fresno State head coach Justin Hutson had little to say in his Mountain West Network interview, but he did mention (a little pointedly and frustrated) that he had instructed his team to foul Brown in the backcourt on that play. They did not.
The Aggies found an immediate advantage in overtime as the Bulldogs' leading scorer, Isaiah Hill, fouled out on the Aggies' first offensive possession.
The teams went back and forth in overtime, keeping the score close, until Brown hit another dagger from behind the arc with 34 seconds remaining to give the Aggies a 3-point lead.
Great Osobor stole the ball on the ensuing possession to secure the win for Utah State, allowing Aggies faithful watching from home to breathe a sigh of relief for the first time all evening.
The Aggies are now 8-0 this season in games that were decided by 5 points or less.
"(Our team) kept saying, 'Somehow we're going to win the game, somehow we're going to win the game; we've got to get a big stop and we'll win the game.' And this group continues to do it," Sprinkle said. "We've been dead in the water a bunch of times this year, and they just keep believing and keep fighting, and somebody makes a big shot all the time."
Osobor led the Aggies with 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting, and added 11 rebounds. Brown, in addition to his two big 3-point shots in the closing seconds of the second half and overtime periods, scored 9 additional points and added 11 rebounds and six assists.
Falslev and Josh Uduje each added 15 points in the win. Uduje started the game in place of Isaac Johnson, who played a limited number of minutes in what was likely a strategic adjustment for the Aggies to defend the Bulldogs' small lineup.
Hill, Leo Colimerio, DuSell, and Isaiah Pope led Fresno State's offense, accounting for all but 6 of the Bulldogs' points.
The Aggies have just three regular season games remaining this season: at home Friday against Air Force (9 p.m. MST, FS1), on the road next Wednesday at San Jose State, and at home for the season finale against New Mexico on March 9. The Aggies are favored in all three games, according to ESPN.
Those will be some of the final opportunities for the Aggies to boost their seed ahead of the NCAA Tournament. Experts at CBS Sports, ESPN, and the NCAA currently place the Aggies between a 5- and 7-seed as one of six teams that are likely to make the tournament from the Mountain West.
