Utah State Aggies guard Steven Ashworth (3) watches as San Diego State celebrates after winning the Mountain West Conference Basketball Tournament Championship at UNLV’s Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas on Saturday, March 11, 2023. San Diego State won 62-57.
Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
LAS VEGAS — Utah State basketball fans are not going to want to hear this, but BYU basketball fans can feel their pain, after the Aggies simply ran out of gas and were downed 62-57 by San Diego State in the Mountain West championship game Friday at Thomas & Mack Center.
Twelve years ago, an outstanding BYU team that had superstar Jimmer Fredette but was without Brandon Davies experienced the incredible depth that SDSU always seems to possess. Kawhi Leonard and Billy White combined for 41 points and the Aztecs got revenge for two regular-season losses to the Cougars with a 72-54 trouncing at the same venue where SDSU again hoisted the championship trophy and cut down the nets Saturday.
“It is tough, because every possession matters in a game like this. So to have that one taken away, it is tough. There were a lot of other plays in the game that if we look back at in our heart of hearts we wish could have gone differently. But that was a little difficult to take.” — USU guard Steven Ashworth on a wiped-away 3-pointer.
The Aggies (27-6) can find solace in the fact that they were much more competitive a dozen years later, pushing No. 20 SDSU to the wire in front of a pro-Aztecs crowd in Sin City.
“They are very tough, they are very deep, they are very physical, they are just like a well-rounded bunch,” said Utah State coach Ryan Odom, heaping …read more
Source:: Deseret News – Sports News