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SAN DIEGO — In the first road game of the season, Utah State was given everything it could handle.
San Diego's Eric Williams posted a school-record 43 points, including a fadeaway 3-pointer with three seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime, to make the night a difficult one for the Aggies.
Despite that, Utah State managed to get it done on the road Thursday night.
Steven Ashworth buried a jumper with four seconds left in overtime to lift the Aggies to a 91-89 win over the Toreros at Jenny Craig Pavilion in San Diego, California.
The Aggies' offense struggled in stretches but turned it on when they needed to most down the stretch.
Utah State trailed 84-80 in overtime, but a Max Shulga 3-pointer followed by a Sean Bairstow layup gave the visiting team the lead. Taylor Funk later buried a 3-pointer to take an 87-84 lead, but an and-one layup from Marcellus Earlington evened the score at 87-87 before the Aggies pulled away for the quality win.
Dan Akin had 21 points and 15 rebounds for the Aggies, and both Shulga and Funk finished with 20 points apiece. With the win, the Aggies improved to 4-0 on the season and continue to build up a strong resume on the young season.
"Really proud of our guys finding a way to win that game," Utah State coach Ryan Odom said. "There were some big shots all around. Obviously, Williams was incredible throughout the game — really hard for us to kind of match him."
Williams finished 13-of-20 from the field, which included going 7-of-8 from 3-point range. Despite playing with four fouls for a chunk of the second half, he stayed in the game and kept making dramatic shots down the stretch.
Trailing 62-59 with seven minutes remaining in the game, Ashworth and Funk buried 3-pointers, and the Aggies went on a 9-2 run to lead 69-64 with 4:34 left. Sisoho Jawara scored 7 straight points for the Toreros to tie the game back at 71-all with 1:49 remaining. A step-back 3-pointer from Funk, followed by a reverse layup from Bairstow put the Aggies up 76-72 with 36 seconds left in regulation; but back-to-back Williams 3-pointers sent the game to overtime.
"It's hard to withstand a guy scoring 40-something points on you and still have a chance to win," Odom said. "We just tried to force some hard shots and he would make them."
If the Aggies were to have an early season letdown, this would have been the game. Rylan Jones missed two practices this week with an illness, and Ashworth hurt his ankle in Monday's game. The Toreros opened the game on a 9-0 run, and Utah State shot just 15-of-26 from the free-throw line and had 17 turnovers.
"Everything was going against us throughout that game," Odom said. "A slow start, they're making extremely tough shots at times, and we're right there."
Trailing 31-30 at halftime, the Aggies performed better in the second half. Funk went 4-of-8 for 14 points in the half, and Akin was a force down low, going 3-of-4 from the field and 6-of-7 from the free-throw line for 12 points.
"Certainly, a lot of things that we can look to and point to where our guys answered. We found some offense that we could go to and make some extra passes," Odom said. "We weren't as rushed in the second half, and I think that was huge."
In games last year where the Aggies went blow-for-blow against opponents, down the stretch they often lost; but in the first close game of this season, they got the final punch with Ashworth's shot.
"I'm not ready to sit here and tell you we got those close games figured out," Odom said. "Because we won a close game against Penn, as well, last year at this time.
"Certainly, there's a ton of things that we can learn from this game."
The Aggies will continue its nonconference slate on Tuesday as they return home to face Oral Roberts.
