Utah State Falls To Oregon In NIT After Disappointing Second Half
Mar 15, 2022, 9:14 PM
Utah State forward Justin Bean (Courtesy of USU Athletics)
(Courtesy of USU Athletics)
LOGAN, Utah – The Utah State Aggies couldn’t carry the momentum from the first half into the second following an 83-72 loss to Oregon in the first round of the NIT.
Utah State had a strong performance in the first half of their NIT matchup with Oregon but the Ducks came out on fire in the second half.
After outscoring Oregon 37-33 in the first half, Utah State scored just 35 points in the second half and allowed the Ducks to put up 50 points. Steven Ashworth led the Aggies with 20 points off the bench. Brandon Horvath chipped in 15 points and Sean Bairstow poured in 12 points. Justin Bean was held to just nine points on 2-of-12 shooting from the field, along with 16 rebounds.
De’Vion Harmon led the Ducks with 19 points. Jacob Young dropped 17 points and Rivaldo Soares added 13 points.
FINAL
OREGON – 83
UTAH STATE – 72#AggiesAllTheWay— USU Men's Hoops (@USUBasketball) March 16, 2022
Oregon Takes Down Utah State In NIT After Big Second Half
Utah State threw every punch they could in the first half and would get their lead up to nine late but Oregon would fight back. Steven Ashworth had a 9-0 personal run midway through the first half and finished with 12 points in the first 20 minutes of action.
The Aggies had an 11-0 run later in the first half that gave them a 32-23 lead with 4:41 remaining but the Ducks cut the deficit to four at the break with USU holding a 37-33 advantage. Besides 12 points from Ashworth, Brandon Horvath scored nine points for the Aggies. Max Shulga added seven points.
Utah State shot 45% from the field, including 7-of-16 from the three-point line. They had 12 assists on 14 made field goals. For Oregon, De’Vion Harmon led the way with 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the floor and 2-for-3 from downtown. The Ducks had the exact same field goals made and attempted as Utah State but the three-point line was the difference with Oregon going 4-for-9.
Oregon came out with confidence and motivation in the second half, jumping out to a 17-5 run and was up 50-42 in the first six minutes. Things didn’t get better for Utah State as Oregon went on an 11-2 run over a four-minute stretch to take a 65-50 lead with under eight minutes to play.
The closest that USU got to the Ducks was 12 points.
Utah State ended their season with an 18-16 overall record and 8-10 in Mountain West play.
