FRESNO, California — Graduate guard Darius Brown II hit two huge 3-pointers to help No. 22 Utah State men's basketball defeat Fresno State 77-73 and escape the Save Mart Center with an overtime victory on Tuesday night.
With the win, Utah State improves to 23-5 on the season and remains in first place in the Mountain West with an 11-4 league mark.
With the Aggies trailing by three points at 65-62 with two seconds remaining, Brown banked in a triple from the right wing to send the game to overtime. Then with 34 seconds remaining in overtime, Brown again hit a big 3-pointer to give Utah State a three-point lead with 34 seconds left. Brown added a closing free throw to deliver a 77-73 Aggie victory.
Brown finished with 15 points and a season-high 11 rebounds, to go along with six assists for his fourth double-double of the season. Utah State was led by junior wing Great Osobor, who poured in 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for his 13th double-double of the season, while adding a season-high-tying three steals. Redshirt freshman guard Mason Falslev and junior guard Josh Uduje added 15 points each.
Isaiah Hill led Fresno State with 21 points before fouling out early in overtime.
The Aggies started off hot, building an eight-point lead,16-8, over the first eight minutes behind 10 points from Osobor. Fresno State (11-17, 4-11 MW) tied the game at 16 with just under seven minutes until halftime. Uduje stepped up on offense for USU scoring the Aggies' next eight points, including two 3-pointers, to give Utah State a 24-20 lead with two minutes left in the half. USU took a five-point lead to the locker room at 30-25 after hitting four free throws to end the half. Osobor and Uduje combined for 24 points in the first 20 minutes.
After a back-and-forth start to the second half, Utah State extended its lead back to eight points at 47-39 after a triple from redshirt sophomore center Isaac Johnson and back-to-back buckets from Osobor and Brown six minutes into the second half. Fresno State then used a 12-2 run to take its first lead of the contest at 51-49 with nine minutes remaining. The Aggies responded with an 8-2 surge to reclaim a 57-52 advantage with five and a half minutes left. Fresno State got back on top with an 8-0 push behind two 3-pointers from Hill to take its largest lead of the game at 61-57 with just over three minutes remaining. After trading free throws, USU scored six points in the final 60 seconds, including a banked-in buzzer-beating triple from Brown to send the game to overtime at 65-65.
Following a Bulldog layup to start overtime, Falslev converted and and-one and Osobor hit a free throw to give the Aggies a two-point advantage at 69-67 with four minutes left. Fresno State went ahead 90 seconds into the extra period by trading two baskets for a lone USU free throw to make the score 71-70. Uduje scored the next three Aggie points to give USU a 73-71 lead. After a Bulldog layup, Brown again converted from behind the arc to give Utah State a three-point lead with 34 seconds left. After a fruitless Fresno State possession, Brown iced the game with a free throw to give USU a 77-73 overtime win on the road.
Utah State shot 52.0 percent (26-of-50) from the field, 40.0 percent (6-of-15) from downtown and 65.5 percent (19-of-29 at the free-throw line. Fresno State shot 42.4 percent (28-of-66) from the field, 25.0 percent (7-of-28) from the perimeter and 83.3 percent (10-of-12) at the charity stripe.
Utah State also outrebounded Fresno State 39-29, but the Aggies also had eight more turnovers (17-9) led gave the Bulldogs a 20-11 advantage on points off turnovers.
The Aggies return home to host Air Force on Friday, March 1, at 9 p.m. The game will be nationally broadcast on FS1.
Season tickets for the 2023-24 men's basketball season are on sale and can be purchased by visiting www.utahstateaggies.com or by calling the Utah State ticket office at 1-888-USTATE-1.
Utah State men's basketball news and information is available on Facebook (facebook.com/usumensbasketball), on Twitter (@usubasketball) and on Instagram (@usubasketball). Fans can also get USU men's basketball highlights on YouTube (youtube.com/utahstateathletics). Aggie fans can follow the Utah State athletic program on Twitter (@usuathletics), on Facebook (facebook.com/usuathletics) or on Instagram (@usuathletics).
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