LAS VEGAS, Nevada – Junior wing Great Osobor scored 29 points and grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds to lead top-seeded and 18th-ranked Utah State to an 87-75 overtime win against ninth-seeded Fresno State Thursday afternoon in the first quarterfinal of the Mountain West Championship.
Fresno State (12-21) pushed the game into overtime courtesy of an 8-0 run as Utah State (27-5) did not score in the final 4:45 of regulation. In fact, it was the second time in the last two weeks that the two teams played an overtime game as USU posted a 77-73 win at Fresno State on February 27.
In overtime, Utah State scored the first 10 points and coasted to a 12-point win.
Utah State's 27 wins are tied with the 2009-10 team for the sixth-most in school history.
Osobor, the Mountain West Player of the Year, posted his 15th double-double of the season as he was 7-of-8 from the field and 15-of-24 at the free throw line, both of which are career highs. Osobor added four assists, two steals and one blocked shot as he posted his 13th 20-point game of the season. Osobor played a career-high 44 minutes on the day a drew an eye-popping 20 fouls.
Graduate senior guard Darius Brown II also posted a double-double for Utah State, his fifth of the season, as he finished with 17 points and a season-high-tying 11 assists. Brown had just four points at halftime.
Sophomore guard Javon Jackson was the third double-figure scorer for the Aggies as he had a career-high 16 points, to go along with a career-high five rebounds and a career-best three steals off the bench in a career-high 31 minutes. Jackson entered the game averaging 4.1 points, 0.9 rebounds and 0.5 assists per outing.
Utah State was without redshirt freshman guard Mason Falslev, who missed the game due to injury. Falslev started all 31 regular season games for Utah State prior to today and is averaging 11.6 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.
Utah State finished the game shooting 43.5 percent (27-of-62), including 28.0 percent (7-of-25) from 3-point range, and 72.2 percent (26-of-36) at the free throw line. Those 26 made free throws are tied for the most by USU in a game this year, while its 36 attempts are a career high.
Fresno State shot 42.2 percent (27-of-64), including 33.3 percent (10-of-30) from 3-point range and 78.6 percent (11-of-14) at the free throw line.
Jalen Weaver led Fresno State with 19 points off the bench, while Isaiah Hill finished the game with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Utah State improved to 21-2 on the season when it outrebounds its opponent as it had a 41-36 advantage on the glass. USU also had 18 assists and just eight turnovers in the game, while adding nine steals. FSU had 14 turnovers as the Aggies had a 21-7 advantage on points off turnovers.
Utah State began the second half on a 19-9 run to turn a one-point halftime deficit into a 51-42 lead following a 3-pointer from Brown at the 14:41 mark. The Bulldogs, however, responded with a 7-0 run to tie the game at 57-all four minutes later. USU seemed to put the game away as it used an 8-0 run to turn a 62-62 tie into a 70-62 advantage with 4:45 remaining. From that point on, though, USU missed its final five shots and missed the front-end of consecutive free throw attempts.
Osobor led Utah State with 16 points, seven rebounds and two steals in the first half, while Jackson had eight points as the Aggies shot 44.4 percent (12-of-27) in the first 20 minutes but was 0-of-7 from 3-point range. USU did make 11-of-16 (.688) free throws in the first half, as Osobor was 8-of-12 from the charity stripe.
Utah State used an early 11-2 run to take a 16-8 lead at the 12:18 mark of the first half following a pair of Osobor free throws. Fresno State answered with a 12-0 run and took a 20-16 lead with 8:31 to play in the half. The Bulldogs took their largest lead of the half at 33-26 with 2:52 remaining. Brown then scored four quick points and Osobor added a 3-point play to tie the game at 33-all. USU regained the lead at 35-34 following a basketball from Jackson, but Weaver made a pair of late free throws to give the Bulldogs the 36-35 halftime lead.
Utah State will now play in the semifinals of the Mountain West Championship for the sixth time in the last seven years as it will face either fourth-seeded UNLV or fifth-seeded San Diego State on Friday, March 15, at 7:30 p.m. (MT).
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