Utah State bows out of Mountain West Tournament in loss to Colorado State

LAS VEGAS — Utah State now has to wait for Sunday to learn whether they've done enough this season to earn an NCAA Tournament bid.

The Aggies (26-7) lost 83-72 to the Colorado State Rams Friday in the semifinal round of the Mountain West Tournament. Utah State trailed by nearly 30 in the second half, but cut it to single digits down the stretch before running out of time.

The loss leaves some doubt as to whether the Aggies will get into the NCAA Tournament despite the season's successes. The NCAA's selection committee has a lot to consider several other good teams, too.

Utah State finished the regular season with more than 25 wins and few bad losses. The team is currently projected as a No. 10 seed by ESPN.

But Aggies coach Jerrod Calhoun, who has recently said he believes his team has done enough for a tournament bid, talked as though a spot on college basketball's biggest stage was already decided.

"We'll see on Sunday who we get," Calhoun said.

Assuming Calhoun and the prognosticators are right, the Aggies will need to figure some things out if they want to win any games in the tournament. Going back to the regular season, they've lost three of their last five games, and each were by double digits.

And in the Big Dance, Utah State's competition will certainly be more formidable than normal.

Against the Rams on Saturday, Mason Falslev led Utah State with 22 points and seven rebounds, while Ian Martinez had 13 points, six rebounds and four assists. Karson Templin added 11 points and nine rebounds.

Calhoun said he was disappointed in the play of his veterans, so he brought out freshmen Jordy Banes and Isaac Davis to the postgame press conference.

"Our seniors just didn't have it," Calhoun said.

The Aggies shot 37% from the field as a team and 21% from behind the 3-point line. They allowed the Rams to shoot 60% overall and 56% from beyond the arc.

Colorado State started out the game on an 8-1 run, and extended its lead over the Aggies to 26-12 with 11:41 remaining in the first half. The Rams made 10 of its first 13 shots.

The Aggies scored 7 straight points and forced a Colorado State timeout, but the Rams, again, opened up a double-digit lead.

Utah State had practically zero answers and trailed by 49-30 at halftime. The onslaught continued early in the second half, where the Aggies fell behind by as many as 28 points.

But a 16-1 run cut Utah State's deficit to 12 with 5:38 left in the game after a Barnes 3-pointer. Templin passed to Falslev on a fast break, who dunked the ball to cut the deficit to 75-64 with 3:06 remaining.

The Aggies continued to work and got the deficit down to 7, but Colorado State pulled away with less than a minute left, sealing Utah State's fate.

Calhoun said playing a team from a completely different conference will be good for the Aggies. And he, again, called on his veterans to lead the team once the tournament begins.

"The seniors have to step it up," Calhoun said. "At the end of the day, you're only as good as your seniors."

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