Aggies men's hoops win tight contest against Southern Utah

LOGAN — In a physical duel of in-state schools, Utah State pulled away from Southern Utah in the second half in a hotly-contested matchup to win 93-84.

The Aggies put together an impressive team performance, led by Great Osobor's 31 points on 9-of-12 shooting and 10 rebounds. Osobor was also key in running up the foul count for both Brock Felder and Parsa Fallah of Southern Utah.

"A lot of credit to my coach (Chris) Haslam, he's really on me about being physical," Osobor said. "I feel like God blessed me. … I'm 6-foot-8, 250, like, I'm a big guy. So I feel like every game I need to try and be physical."

The Thunderbirds' big men played with foul trouble early in the half; Osobor's knack for drawing fouls allowed him to knock down 13 of his 17 free throws.

Perhaps what was most impressive, though, was that Osobor drew close to a dozen fouls while only committing two. Over his playing career, however, that was not always the case.

"My first two years at Montana State, I was a foul machine, especially in my freshman year," Osobor said. "I feel like I'm more mature now … just try to be smart, you know. I feel like that comes with age."

Though Osobor was critical in the win, virtually all of the starting lineup, barring Isaac Johnson, who had two early fouls, contributed in a big way. Osobor, Darius Brown, Mason Falslev, and Josh Uduje all finished in double figures. Notably, Brown had 22 points and eight assists, and Falslev added nine rebounds and four assists.

Despite the win, Aggies head coach Danny Sprinkle said he was not impressed with his team's defensive effort; the 84 points given up to Southern Utah was the highest this season.

"I told our guys, too, I'm not happy with our defensive effort. My expectations are a lot higher than theirs are," Sprinkle said. "We have to do a lot better job guarding the basketball than we did tonight."

Though his team did well drawing fouls and getting to the line, they didn't make the Thunderbirds pay by making their shots, Sprinkle said. The Aggies finished 21-of-32 from the free-throw line.

"I think we had four missed front ends of one-and-ones; that's 8 points," Sprinkle said. "The game could have been over, but instead they're only down 5 in the last couple minutes. We've got to get better at knocking down free throws."

Aggies big men Nigel Burris, Isaac Johnson and Kalifa Sakho, who have been important in the Aggies' contests so far, got limited minutes due to the speed and "small ball" style of play that Southern Utah implemented. Though Johnson was in the starting five, he played less than two minutes.

The Aggies move to 2-1 on the season and prepare for a trip to the Cayman Islands Classic this weekend. Southern Utah moves to 1-2 and faces Louisiana Tech on the road next Tuesday.

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