- Utah State defeated Boise State 93-68 in a Mountain West Conference game.
- USU's Mason Falslev praised traveling fans for their support during the victory.
- Coach Jerrod Calhoun highlighted the team's strong start and collective effort.
When you score on your first eight possessions and 13 of the first 15 to start the game, good things are happening.
The Aggie men's basketball team never let up Saturday night at ExtraMile Arena against Boise State in a Mountain West Conference game. Utah State led from start to finish, rolling to a 93-68 victory.
"To open up with a kill shot 10-0 run was pretty incredible," USU head coach Jerrod Calhoun said. "We really wanted to come out of the gates and establish ourselves and make sure they play this game on our terms."
The Aggies (14-1, 5-0 MW) also had a rather large cheering section Saturday night. Many USU students headed northwest with original plans of claiming free tickets offered by Boise State for students. The HURD was planning on invading the Bronco student section called the Corral. That didn't happen.
When the original plan didn't pan out, people started raising money to buy the Aggie students tickets to the game. Around $3,000 was raised within hours, including a pledge of $1,000 by the USU coaching staff and $100 from Aggie Athletics Director Cam Walker.
"I can't even hear you guys because they (fans) are so loud right now," said USU guard Mason Falslev during a Zoom interview when asked about the fans traveling from Logan. "It's pretty awesome they came out and supported. Last year we got beat by 20 or 18 here. This is a hard place to play, and having them (fans) really helped us. HURD, we love you and appreciate you. Keep showing up, and we will keep doing our part."
Calhoun was thankful as well.
"When we found out they couldn't get in with the student tickets, the staff put some money together, donors put some money together, our athletic director, but they came out in droves," Calhoun said. "It was pretty incredible at the end of the game, all of the chants. I think it shows the commitment that this student body has and not only for our program, but for athletics. It's pretty incredible."
Those that did make the trek to the Gem State capital were rewarded with plenty to cheer about. By the end of the game with many Bronco fans gone, the regular cheers used at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum could be heard as the game came to an end.
The 25-point loss was the worse defeat at home for the Broncos (9-7, 1-4) since a game in 1999. It was the biggest winning margin for the Aggies at Boise State in the series.
"It was a complete team effort," Calhoun said. "I thought a lot of guys played great."
Falslev flirted with a double-double, finishing with 16 points and a game-best nine rebounds. Four of his boards came on the offensive end, as the Aggies finished with 26 second-chance points on 12 offensive rebounds.
"We were just fighting (for rebounds)," Falslev said. "A lot of them were pinging around down there. You just got to want it more."
Joining Falslev in double-digit scoring was guard MJ Collins Jr. with a game-best 25 points, and Drake Allen with a season-high 14. Collins had five of USU's 11 3-pointers in the game. Allen, who was questionable before the game because of sickness, dished out a game-high eight assists and had just one turnover.
"He was on an IV today; I didn't know if he was going to play, he hadn't eaten in 24 hours," Calhoun said of Allen. "He was tremendous. … Drake is a warrior. I should have knew he would play. I'm really proud of him."
All 12 Aggies played with nine of them scoring. Eight USU players had at least six points.
The Aggies turned 12 Boise State turnovers into 23 points, while giving up just seven points on eight turnovers.
"It's pretty easy to score, just throw it to MJ, he makes it every time, that makes it easy on all of us," Falslev said. "Our point guards have done a great job, our coaching staff too. … Our defense leads to our offense. We starting to figure that out."
The Broncos were led by Dylan Andrews with 16 points. Pearson Carmichael and Dominic Parolin each netted 12 points. Forward/center Drew Fielder came in leading Boise State at 13.4 points a game, but was held to just two. Parolin came off the bench to grab six rebounds and dish out five assists.
Just over two minutes into the game the Broncos were calling a timeout. That's because the Aggies had raced out to a 10-0 lead to start the contest. Four different USU players scored during the surge as Zach Keller got the scoring started with a layup off a pass from Collins.
The hot start continued for the visitors as Collins turned an offensive rebound into two, Allen turned a pass from Falslev into a layup, and Kolby King drilled a 3-pointer when Karson Templin fed him, giving the Aggies a 20-6 lead six minutes into the game.
A steal and dunk by Adlan Elamin gave USU a 26-11 led midway through the opening half.
"We obviously wanted the Grand Canyon game versus Boise, and we knew they (Broncos) were going to be a little bit angry," Falslev said. "We knew we had to come out and punch them in the mouth and show them we mean business, and we are here to stay."
Boise State scored on back-to-back possessions for the first time in the game with four minutes left in first half. A pair of free throws by Fielder pulled the hosts within 32-19.
The Aggies responded with seven straight points. Templin dunked a pass from Allen to spark the run. Collins came up with a steal and scored, then hit a 3-pointer off a pass from Allen to give USU a 39-19 lead with three minutes before the break.
Falslev hit a 3-pointer just before halftime to double-up the Broncos, 46-23, as the teams went to the locker room.
USU had just two turnovers in the first half and turned eight Boise State turnovers into 14 points.
"That was our cleanest half of basketball," Calhoun said of the first half. "We did a tremendous job valuing possessions."
The Broncos scored six straight points and got within 51-35 in the early going of the second quarter. Parolin converted a three-point play to get the hosts with 16.
Templin scored off of an offensive rebound to ignite a 6-0 run by the Aggies. Falslev and Collins each knocked down a pair of free throws, as USU built a 57-35 lead with 15 minutes to play.
"The last three games Boise has been in the same situation, down at halftime," Falslev said. "They have almost come back in every game. We knew they weren't going to quit, so I told myself to keep fighting."
The Aggies never let up and used a 10-0 run to take a 74-45 lead with 9:29 to play. Collins started the surge with a layup on a fast break and capped it with a 3-pointer.
A trey by Allen at the 7:31 mark gave USU a 81-51 lead.
Falslev grabbed an offensive rebound and scored and then made two free throws to build the largest lead of the game, 88-56, with 4:16 to play.
The bench was emptied by the Aggies in the closing minutes as they recorded their seventh straight win. Boise State has now lost three in a row.
USU had a boost before the game from an unlikely speaker.
"We do pregame messages each game, whether it's a former Aggies player, a coach, a parent," Calhoun said. "Coach (Danny) Sprinkle was the message today. He just texted me with a picture of his TV and said he watched it from start to finish. I thought he got our guys fired up with his message going into this game."
