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LOGAN — As Jaedon Ledee bullied his way over Szymon Zapala for the and-one dunk, all Utah State head coach Ryan Odom could do was shake his head.
In their biggest game of the season to this point, the Aggies were manhandled by San Diego State on the road to open up the game and trailed 37-17 with 4:10 remaining in the first half when the play happened.
Behind 22 points from Taylor Funk and 18 points from Sean Bairstow, the Aggies rallied in the second half and cut the Aztecs' lead to just six with 3:52 left to play in the game. But it was as close as they'd come to overcoming the deficit as San Diego State responded with a 5-0 run to defeat Utah State 85-75 on Wednesday night.
The Aggies now fall to 0-3 in Quad 1 opportunities on the season, and 0-9 in conference games at Viejas Arena.
"We can't be tentative to start games against quality competition like this," Odom said. "And I thought we were at the beginning of this game. There are sometimes plays that happen that hurt your confidence; I think that definitely happened.
"And then we settled in and started to play. I told the team after the game we have to believe that we believe we belong in the game the second it starts. We have to be the aggressor. … The margin was too big for us to overcome against a really good opponent."
The Aztecs picked apart the Aggies defense, generated open 3-point shots off dribble penetration, and finished the night shooting 55% from beyond the 3-point line. Seven of the 3-pointers came from Adam Seiko, who shot 7-of-8 from beyond the arc and finished with a game-high 25 points off the bench to lead San Diego State.
Most of that came in the first half.
With the Aggies trailing 12-11, Seiko hit back-to-back 3-pointers on wide-open looks to start the run, then buried a third off a defensive breakdown to go up 23-11. Darrion Trammell then missed an open layup in transition, and the Aztecs secured the offensive rebound, kicked it back out to Seiko for his fifth 3-pointer of the night to go up 26-11 with 9:13 left in the half. It ultimately turned into an 18-0 run for the Aztecs.
"We lost Seiko several times," Odom said. "That's not the game plan for us to leave their best overall shooter wide open for three. He's going to knock those down."
The Aztecs shot 7-of-13 from beyond the arc in the first half and nabbed 12 second-chance points. The Aggies shot just 32% from the field and went 4-of-20 from 3-point range. By the time Ledee climbed the ladder over Zapala later in the half, the game appeared over.
Unlike the two prior Quad 1 road games, though, when the Aggies gave up big runs to Boise State and Nevada and failed to respond, Utah State showed some pride.
The visitors went on a 9-0 run and cut the halftime deficit to 42-25, then played better on both sides of the ball in the second half. Playing more loose on the offensive end and attacking the rim with purpose, the Aggies scored 48 second half points.
Baistow got open looks from deep and took advantage, burying three 3-pointers to finish with 14 second half points. Funk was effective finishing at the hoop and added a 3-pointer to help cut the deficit to single digits.
"We had no other choice. We got down so much in the first half we had to fight." Odom said. "To get it to 74-68 with a chance to dig into it even more, there's something there for us. We just have to be more consistent and play more like that for the entirety of the game."
The Aztecs offensive attack was unrelenting, though. The hosts shot 55.6% from deep in the second half and answered every Utah State run. Back-to-back layups from Funk narrowed the deficit to six with three minutes to play, but San Diego State responded with a pair of free throws and a corner 3-pointer from Lamont Butler to take an 11-point lead with 2:15 remaining.
There was a silver lining for the Aggies, who fall to 5-3 in conference play and travel to Fresno State on Saturday. The four top teams in the conference — San Diego State, Boise State, Nevada and New Mexico — still have to face Utah State in the Spectrum, which means there's an opportunity for Odom's squad to build upon an at-large resume.
Failing to compete in the first half on Wednesday night, though, will certainly haunt the Aggies.
"We've got to be in the game from the beginning," Odom said. "And we've got to believe that we need to be in the game from the beginning."
