Home cooking counts in the Mountain West and Utah State more than enjoyed its taste Tuesday against San Diego State.
The Aggies (22-5, 10-4 MW) took over sole possession of first place in the conference with a 68-63 win over No. 19 SDSU (20-7, 9-5 MW) in Logan, Utah.
The duo of Darius Brown II and Great Osobor made things difficult for the Aztecs in the battle for first in the MW, and Brown, coming off a two-point performance in a 20-point loss to Colorado State, more than bounced back.
The guard led all scorers with 25 and with just over two minutes to play and the ball rattling between players beneath the basket, teammate Mason Falslev managed to kick out the ball to him. With the shot clock winding down, Brown hit a three-pointer to put his team up by six and push SDSU to the brink.
Head coach Brian Dutcher, talking to San Diego Sports 760, noted “the timely nature of their offensive rebounds,” adding simply, “Darrius Brown was sensational.”
Brown and Osobor pounded the Aztecs in the first half, but SDSU managed to stay close.
They overcame an early 6-0 lead, and after a layup to pull within one, Jaedon LeDee tied the game at 15 with a jumper in the paint.
He added two more quick jumpers to give San Diego State its first lead of the game at 19-17.
Brown, though tied it again with a three-pointer, off an assist by Osobor. Trammell answered with a layup, but then so did Brown to knot it back up at 23. Elijah Saunders gave SDSU another lead on a layup with 3:04 on the clock.
That would be the Aztecs’ final field goal of the half, and Brown and Osobor matched up again for a 28-25 Aggie lead. Utah State took at 31-26 advantage into the locker room as Brown finished with 12 points for the half.
He wasn’t done, The Aggies’ lead stretched to 10 after the break with another Brown three off a feed by Osobor.
But San Diego embarked on a 7-0 run with a jumper by LeDee, a steal by Trammell that led to a layup by LeDee and a three by Saunders to make it 36-33 Utah State.
Yet the Aggies would build another 10-point advantage, capped by – who else? – Brown, off a rebound and assist by – yep – Osobor.
SDSU had one more go at Utah State, cutting the lead to one with just under five minutes to play on a second-chance jumper by LeDee that followed an offensive rebound by Micah Parrish. But after a layup by Isaac Johnson – and a missed three by Saunders and an offensive foul by Lamont Butler – Brown sunk his big shot from long distance.
San Diego State failed to make a field goal down the stretch – Osobor also had a timely block against LeDee – until Miles Byrd scored a meaningless three with three seconds left.
“We had an opportunity to steal one and we didn’t get enough done to make that happen,” Dutcher said.
Osobor finished with 17 points along with seven rebounds and assists. LeDee had 23 and Reese Waters 11. The teams split their matchups on the season, with each winning at home against a ranked opponent. SDSU knocked off Utah State when they were still No. 17 in the Associated Press Top 25.
The Aztecs have an apparent breather ahead with two games against lesser MW lights. They head to Fresno State (11-15, 4-9 MW) at 7 p.m. Saturday; three days later they host San Jose State (9-18, 2-12 MW).
