Las Vegas, NV – The 20th ranked Utah State Aggies took on the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels on Saturday afternoon in a Mountain West matchup. The Rebels would open the sport on a 10-2 run and would lead by as many as 11 within the first half. Utah State senior guard Ian Martinez would assist lower the deficit in a rush, hitting 4 of his first 5 makes an attempt from past the arc, however UNLV would have the 47-40 lead at half. Nonetheless, because of what ended up being a five-point play, Utah State would escape with an 87-86 victory.
Within the offseason Utah State misplaced 100% of its scoring from final season, however Martinez and England native and junior guard Josh Uduje (9 factors on 4-9 capturing, 1-2 from 3) stored the Aggies afloat. The story of the primary half was UNLV fifth-year guard Luis Rodriguez who led all scorers on the half with 13 factors capturing an ideal 5-of-5 from the ground, together with one made three-pointer and 2-of-3 from the charity stripe. Junior ahead Rob Whaley Jr. supplied an enormous activate the bench when Utah State began to chop into his group’s lead, knocking down seven rebounds to go together with his 10 factors; together with a thunderous dunk that received the group again into the sport.
The opposite storyline was the free-throw line. Coming into the sport the Aggies solely allowed their opponents 12.4 made free throws per sport and the Rebels had 13 at half. Utah State dedicated 10 fouls to UNLV’s six. UNLV was in a position to run previous Utah State with ease, holding a 10-2 benefit in fast-break factors and had a slight edge on the boards (18-13), however the two groups had been largely even within the different counting statistics.
Martinez picked up proper the place he left off initially of the second half, hitting two of his subsequent three-point makes an attempt to assist pull the Aggies nearer and would end with a game-high 24 factors. Utah State’s junior ahead Nice Osobor confirmed why he’s the group main scorer, attending to the road with frequency (10-11 from the free-throw line), working in transition and knocking down 14 rebounds to go together with his 22 factors.
For UNLV, they might have six gamers end in double figures. Freshman guard and Las Vegas native Dedan Thomas Jr. was a kind of gamers and the one one to complete with a double-double for the Runnin’ Rebels. Thomas Jr. dished out 11 assists to go together with his 10 factors, doing so in opposition to Utah’s zone and man defenses, within the pick-and-roll and with and with out screens. Thomas Jr. stored UNLV calm and in management any time Utah State went on a run.
Utah State received it on the finish, when down by 4 factors, Darius Brown II nailed a three-pointer with eight seconds left. On the identical play Osobor was fouled by Kalib Boone. He made each free throws to place the Aggies up by one. Thomas Jr. then missed a jumper on the ultimate shot of the sport as Utah State escaped with the win.
Each groups have extra convention play on the docket. The Aggies will journey to New Mexico to tackle the Lobos within the Pit Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. MT. The Rebels are additionally again in motion on Tuesday, going through off in opposition to the Boise State Broncos in ExtraMile Area at 7 p.m. PST.
This text was written by Mason McFee, a correspondent and scout for NetScouts Basketball. You possibly can observe us on Fb, or on twitter.
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