Courtesy of Utah State Athletics
ROME, Italy – Utah State men’s basketball played its first of three games against international competition Monday morning in Rome, earning a dominant 116-48 win over Stella Azzurra Roma of Italy’s Serie B third division.
“I thought we were very unselfish and played the right way. Everybody that got in played extremely hard,” said Utah State head coach Jerrod Calhoun. “They played some man and some zone, so it was good to see how our guys reacted. I thought everybody contributed and overall it was a pretty good performance.”
Eight different Aggies scored in double-figures, led by a 17-point effort from sophomore guard Mason Falslev. Utah State pulled away early with a 35-8 first quarter and a 61-24 first half, while shooting an efficient 22-of-23 from inside the 3-point arc. Starters for the Aggies included senior guard Drake Allen, Falslev, graduate guard Ian Martinez, junior forward Isaac Johnson and senior center Aubin Gateretse.
“It felt good to run up and down a little bit,” Falslev said. “We installed a new defense and we were getting after them early. We started out on a 20-5 run in the first three minutes because of our ball pressure and pushing the ball forward. We played well as a group and I’m excited for the next game.”
Sophomore wing Tucker Anderson, one of eight newcomers that made their Utah State debut in the contest, finished second on the team with 13 points. Other double-figure scorers included Allen with 11 points, while Martinez, Johnson, Gateretse, sophomore guard Braden Housley and freshman guard Jordy Barnes each finished with 10 points.
“It’s really exciting just to be back and for the first time to play against other people. All the progress that we’ve made throughout the summer showed out,” Martinez said. “We were really active defensively, getting a lot of deflections and steals and that’s the kind of game that we’re trying to play. We have a lot of guys that can step up in different moments depending on who is hot, so I’m glad everybody got to be out there and play their game. We were very comfortable doing what we’ve been practicing.”
Graduate guard Dexter Akkano and sophomore forward Pavle Stosic each scored seven points, while sophomore forward Karson Templin and senior guard Deyton Albury scored six points apiece to round out the Aggie rotation.
Utah State’s next competition will be on Friday, Aug. 16, when the Aggies face KK Kastela Ribola of the Croatian Prva Liga first division in Split, Croatia. The game will tip at 11 a.m. local time, 3 a.m. MT.
