Courtesy of Utah State Athletics
SPLIT, Croatia – Utah State men’s basketball continued its foreign tour with a win in its second of three games against international competition Friday morning in Split, Croatia, defeating KK Kastela Ribola of the Croatian Prva Liga first division 95-70.
“We had a lot of guys step up today, and we’re playing as a connected group,” said first-year head coach Jerrod Calhoun. “We’ve got a very, very deep team that on any given night can have guys step up. Our offense has been very good. Guys are sharing the ball and they’re making the right reads but we can continue to get better on both sides of the ball.”
Five different Aggies scored in double figures, led by a 13-point effort from graduate guard Ian Martinez. Other top scorers for Utah State included graduate guard Dexter Akanno, sophomore wing Tucker Anderson and junior center Isaac Johnson, who finished with 11 points apiece, while senior center Aubin Gateretse went for 10 points. Senior guard Drake Allen was the team’s top facilitator with 11 assists, while sophomore guard Mason Falslev finished with five.
“We’ve been playing with a lot of energy and a lot of focus,” Akanno said. “Even when things don’t go our way, we’re able to move on to the next play and keep going.”
Trailing 20-15 after the first quarter, the Aggies overcame the sluggish start to out-score their competition 80-50 the rest of the way. Utah State found its rhythm from deep, connecting on 38 percent (9-of-24) of its shots from 3-point range.
Utah State will play the final game of its foreign tour in Dubrovnik, Croatia, on Sunday, Aug. 18, when the Aggies face KK Podgorica, a top squad in Montenegro’s first league Prva A Liga. The game will tip at 10:30 a.m. local time, 2:30 a.m. MT.
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