LOGAN, Utah – Utah State men's basketball remained perfect on the season, improving to 4-0 Monday night inside of the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum with a 95-83 win over Big Sky preseason favorites Montana. The backcourt duo of graduate guard
Ian Martinez and sophomore guard
Mason Falslev combined for 57 points in the win, each going for career scoring highs.
Martinez went off for 32 points, surpassing his previous career high of 28, taking advantage from the charity stripe. The Costa Rica native shot 6-for-15 from the floor, 4-for-8 from 3-point range and 16-for-16 from the charity stripe. His 16 makes were the most makes from the line without a miss in program history. Martinez also went for seven rebounds, three assists and a steal. Falslev matched his career high of 25 points, making 11-of-17 shots from the floor, including 2-of-4 from 3-point range and 1-of-2 at the free throw line. He tacked on three rebounds and a career-high-tying five steals.
After a slow start in which Utah State missed its first six shots from the floor and didn't make a field goal until more than three-and-a-half minutes in, the Aggies caught fire. Through the remainder of the half, USU connected on 64 percent of its shots, making 16 of the next 25 from the field.
Defensively, the team forced 14 first half turnovers with eight steals, taking a 49-35 lead into the break.
The Grizzlies answered with a strong start to the second half, using an early 12-0 run to cut the USU lead to as few as two points, but that's as close as the visitors would get. USU kept its foot on the pedal, creating high-quality looks and capitalizing from the free throw line as it shot 16-of-19 at the charity stripe in the final 20 minutes.
While making the first start of his college career, sophomore forward
Karson Templin also had a career night with 12 points to go along with a career high nine rebounds, just one board shy of a double-double. Defensively, Templin also came up with two blocks and two steals.
In total, Utah State shot 50.0 percent from the floor (19-of-58), 45.0 percent from 3-point range (9-of-20) and 78.8 percent from the free throw line (28-of-36).
Defensively, USU caused 18 Montana turnovers with 11 steals. 27 of Utah State's points came off of those turnovers. The Grizzlies finished the night shooting 51.6 percent (32-of-62) from the floor, 33.3 percent (8-of-24) from behind the arc and 55.0 percent (11-of-20) at the charity stripe.
UP NEXT
Utah State will hit the road for the first time this season, traveling to Kansas City, Missouri, to face Iowa (4-0, 0-0 Big Ten) on Friday, Nov. 22, at 6 p.m. (MT). The game will be broadcast on Big Ten Network.
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FOLLOW
For more information on Utah State's men's basketball program, follow the Aggies on Facebook at usumensbasketball, on Twitter at @usubasketball and on Instagram at @usubasketball. Fans can also watch USU men's basketball highlights by visiting youtube.com/utahstateathletics.
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