Darius Brown II scored 25 points and Utah State took over sole possession of first place in the Mountain West Conference with a 68-63 win against No. 19 San Diego State on Tuesday night in Logan, Utah.
Great Osobor had 17 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for the Aggies (22-5, 10-4 Mountain West), who had lost three of their past five, beginning with an 81-67 setback against the Aztecs on Feb. 3 in San Diego. At the time, Utah State was ranked 17th and San Diego State was unranked.
Jaedon LeDee scored 23 points and Reese Waters scored 11 off the bench for San Diego State (20-7, 9-5), which dropped to 2-5 on the road in conference play.
The Aggies scored the first five points of the second half to take their biggest lead of the game at 36-26, but the Aztecs quickly answered with a 7-0 run.
San Diego State had trouble closing the gap while going 3-for-19 from 3-point distance for the game, missing three straight open looks from deep on one possession early in the second half.
Brown, meanwhile, sank a 3-pointer to extend the lead back to double figures at 49-39 with 11:45 remaining.
Brown was coming off a season-low two points on 1-for-9 shooting in a 75-55 loss at Colorado State on Saturday.
The Aztecs cut that deficit in half with 6:18 remaining, and LeDee hit back-to-back jumpers to make it 59-58 with 4:47 to go.
Osobor drew a charge and broke up a pass into the interior for a turnover before Brown beat the shot clock with another 3 to make it 64-58 Utah State with 2:05 left.
Osobor blocked LeDee’s shot with 1:36 left to maintain the six-point advantage, and the Aggies shot 4-for-4 from the foul line in the final 26 seconds to seal the win.
Utah State scored the first six points of the game before the Aztecs took their first lead at 11-10 on a half-court lob pass from Darrion Trammell to Miles Byrd for a dunk with 10:51 left in the first half.
Isaac Johnson ended the 7-0 San Diego State run with a layup 29 seconds later to move Utah State back ahead, 12-11.
Utah State would finish the first half on an 8-1 run to take a 31-26 lead into the break.
–Field Level Media
