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LOGAN — If you've watched any Utah State basketball this season, what happened in the final moments of Saturday afternoon's game against league-leading Boise State won't surprise you.
For 37 minutes of action at the Extra Mile Arena, Utah State went toe-to-toe with the Broncos; the game had 13 lead changes and seven ties. After Rylan Jones buried an open 3-pointer, the Aggies trailed 57-55 with 2:59 remaining.
But in the most critical stretch, Utah State fell apart. Zee Hamoda was called for a loose ball foul, Justin Bean missed an open jumper, and Bronco guard Marcus Shaver Jr. buried a step back 3-pointer. Then the Aggies turned the ball over three times and Boise State closed out the game on an 11-2 run to defeat Utah State 68-57.
Utah State, who is 2-6 in one-possession games this season, once again let an opportunity to get a signature Quad 1 win slip away. And this time, it slipped into a double-digit loss — their fourth-straight loss. It drops the Aggies to 6-9 in Mountain West play with three regular-season games remaining.
"Tough one to swallow," Aggies guard RJ Etyle-Rock said. "We were in the game right until the end. We just really had a tough time finishing."
"Boise State made the plays down the stretch to finish this off," head coach Ryan Odom said.
On a night where Bean struggled, shooting just 3 of 10 from the field for 6 points, Etyle-Rock was the only starter in double digits. He shot 6 of 11 from the field, was aggressive attacking the hoop and finished with a team high 16 points.
Hamoda, who Odom said played "his best game of the season," added 10 points and three assists and was the spark off the bench the Aggies needed.
Utah State led at halftime and did not trail by more than 6 points for most of the second half. Etyle-Rock and Hamoda helped the Aggies shoot 43.4%, while Utah State's defensive effort kept Boise State below 30% shooting from beyond the arch.
The issue, however, came in the foul column; Boise State shot 28 free throws — hitting 19 of them — while the Aggies shot just six from the line. Shaver Jr. cashed in, going 6 for 6 from the line to have a game-high 20 points. On the other end, Utah State couldn't get the calls.
"I mean, we feel like we drive the ball pretty hard to the basket," Odom said. "It wasn't like we shot a ton more 3s than them. And, you know, I guess we've just got to do a better job of keeping our chests in front and not fouling them."
With 11:42 remaining in the game, Hamoda drove in the lane and passed it to Bean for the layup. On the next possession, he stole the ball from Emmenaul Akot and found Bean again for a two-handed slam to cap off a 7-0 run. With the momentum, Utah State led 46-45.
But the Broncos responded with a 7-0 run of their own, and Abu Kigab proved difficult to guard as he backed down his defender and hit turn around jumpers. He finished with 17 points for Boise State.
During Boise State's run, the Aggies went on a four-minute scoring drought, complementing a four-minute scoring drought in the first half. Boise State had success putting Utah State in late shot clock situations and forced 12 second-half turnovers.
"They're a top 15 defense in the country and you're going to have some droughts against them," Odom said. "I think one of the keys for us is you have to go back to the turnovers. Some of those, they're fixable. We did it in the first half, we have to do it all the way throughout."
Etyle-Rock kept the Aggies alive, though, and made it to free throw line and hit a jumper to narrow the deficit to 54-51. Jones' 3-pointer cut it to two, but the Broncos offense prevailed. Seven of Boise State's final 15 points came from the free-throw line, while Utah State shot just 1 of 4 from the field to closeout the game.
"I don't think they did anything special," Etyle-Rock said of the final minutes. "We just didn't guard them good enough down the stretch."
The Aggies look to snap their losing streak when they return home to face New Mexico on Tuesday.
