Aggies beat San Francisco 54-53 in final seconds for 10th straight win

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah State and San Francisco put on a show at the Delta Center Saturday afternoon.

With less than a minute remaining in the game, Kalifa Sakho missed a shot, got his own rebound, and put up a layup to give the Aggies a 2-point lead. The Dons then responded with a 3-pointer.

What happened next was unexplainable. The Aggies somehow got the ball into the basket on an offensive rebound tip-in (which they credited to Sakho, as well) to take the lead by 1 point.

The last 15 seconds were filled with drama as the Aggies ultimately had to stop the Dons on defense twice in order to win. But in the final seconds, the Dons turned the ball over on a steal that was credited to Darius Brown II, and the Aggies survived with a 54-53 win.

"Man, I don't know, I just touched the ball," Sakho said of his game-winning shot.

Though the Frenchman made two baskets for the Aggies in the final minute of play, both go-ahead buckets, it was, perhaps, his defense that made the biggest difference Saturday afternoon.

"I can't say enough about Kalifa on the defensive end tonight," Utah State head coach Danny Sprinkle said. "He changed the game. Guarding (Jonathan) Mogbo, and getting deflections, and just his length … we don't come close to winning this game without Kalifa tonight."

Jonathan Mogbo led the Dons with 14 points on 7-of-12 shooting and finished with a team-high nine rebounds.

The entire game was a physical, defensive showcase with both teams locking the other down in nearly all facets of their offensive efforts. The teams combined for six blocks and 20 steals on defense while only shooting a combined 35.2% from the field.

Ian Martinez led the Aggies in scoring with 20 points and added an impressive eight rebounds. His scoring proved to be critical on a night where the Aggies shot just 2-of-21 from 3-point range.

With the win, the Aggies improve to 11-1 and increased their win streak to 10. The Aggies have just one final nonconference matchup against East Tennessee State Friday evening at home before beginning conference play in the new year.

Related topics