Courtesy of Utah State Athletics
SAN DIEGO – Utah State’s season came to an end in the second round of the NCAA Tournament here Sunday night at Viejas Arena as the Aggies lost to top-seeded and second-ranked Arizona by a final score of 78-66.
Utah State, who finished the year with a 29-7 record for its third-most wins in program history, advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the second time in the past three years and for the sixth time in program history.
Fifth year forward Garry Clark led three Aggies in double-figures with 13 points and six rebounds. Senior guard MJ Collins Jr. had 12 points and graduate guard Drake Allen scored 11 points.
Utah State finished the game shooting 39.1 percent (25-of-64), including 25.0 percent (8-of-25) from 3-point range, and 72.7 percent (8-of-11) at the free throw line.
Jaden Bradley led Arizona with 18 points as the Wildcats shot 39.3 percent (22-of-56), including 41.2 percent (7-of-17) from behind the arc, and was 27-of-39 (.692) at the charity stripe.
Utah State had a season-low four turnovers as compared to 11 for Arizona. The Aggies had a 28-22 advantage in points in the paint, a 27-10 advantage in bench points, a 9-3 advantage in points off turnovers, and a 5-2 advantage in fast break points.
Arizona outrebounded Utah State by a 54-26 mark, which led to a 21-14 advantage for the Wildcats in second chance points.
Arizona scored 10 of the first 12 points of the game, forcing a Utah State timeout. The Aggies responded with a 5-0 run and kept the game close for most of the first half. The Wildcats used an 8-0 run to take a 27-16 lead with 6:13 to play in the half and went into the locker room up nine at 33-24.
Arizona took its largest lead of the game at 51-33 with 14:43 to play following a 9-0 run. USU would not go away, however, and battled back to with four points courtesy of a 21-7 run to get to within 58-54 at the 6:34 mark. That was as close as USU could get though as Arizona finished the game on a 12-5 run over the final 3:56 to post the 12-point win.
FOLLOW ALONG
For more information on Utah State’s men’s basketball program, follow the Aggies on Facebook at usumensbasketball, on Twitter at @usubasketball and on Instagram at @usubasketball. Fans can also watch USU men’s basketball highlights by visiting youtube.com/utahstateathletics.
