They would have preferred playing a little later on Christmas Day, but the Aggies are happy with how they finished at the 13th annual Diamond Head Classic.
Utah State finished off its stay in Honolulu, Hawaii, on a good note. The Aggie men’s basketball team took third at the eight-team tournament, beating Washington State Sunday evening, 82-73, in Simplifi Arena.
“We would have loved to play in that last game in the championship,” USU head coach Ryan Odom said. “We had to make sure we gave our best effort in this one. Our goal was to come out of here with as many wins as we could. Getting two wins against quality opponents was a positive.”
In the championship game, host Hawaii hit a last-second 3-point shot to edge SMU, 58-57. It was the first time the Rainbow Warriors have won the tournament and in fact this was the first time they have reached the title game.
The Aggies (11-2) built a double-digit lead with five minutes left in the first half and maintained it for the most part the rest of the game. The Cougars (5-8) scored the final seven points of the game to get within single digits.
“We’ve been working a lot on our offense,” said USU center Trevin Dorius, who was one of six Aggies to reach double figures in scoring. “We were not rushed. Everything was about reading the defense and attacking the mistakes. I think it showed today that when we play together, intelligently and in a smart way, we can pull out a win.”
Ten Aggies played and nine of them scored.
“Losing is never fun,” Dorius said. “... You’ve got to give a lot of credit to the resiliency of our guys. The ability to lock in and not lose twice (in a row).”
Dorius, Steven Ashworth and Taylor Funk each scored 12 points to lead USU. Sean Bairstow and Max Shulga added 11 each, while Dan Akin netted 10. Rylan Jones, who was back in the starting lineup Sunday, was close to joining the group as he finished with nine points and had four assists.
“It was a matter of time before we did it,” Odom said of starting Jones and bringing Ashworth off the bench. “Coming out of the SMU game, I talked to both Steven and Rylan. Steven is all about what is right for this team. Steven is a great player, Steven is a starter. He is probably the first guy on the (opponent’s) scouting report.”
Dorius drew praise for his play once again from the coach.
“Trevin is getting better every game,” Odom said. “I’m just really impressed with his play and excited by the progression that he is making. I’m confident he will continue to make more.”
And Dorius’ take on his play of late?
“It comes down to confidence,” Dorius said. “The coaching staff and players on this team are really special. They have taken time outside of practice and in practice to give me the confidence to go out and play. … It’s been building and I’m optimistic it’s going to keep improving.”
Shulga made an early exit, getting two quick technical fouls six minutes into the second half. The guard made a bucket and seemed to feel he was fouled on the play and didn’t get a call. He was hit with a technical and then another, leaving having played 21 minutes, grabbing four rebounds and dishing out three assists to go with his 11 points.
“The ref said he (Shulga) said something back to him,” Odom said. “I’m not sure if he did or didn’t. I didn’t hear anything. … It’s certainly not something Max is proud of. We want to represent Utah State the right way. We need Max on the floor. We are very fortunate it didn’t impact the game negatively for us. The guys were very mature and rallied around one another.”
Unlike in their semifinal loss to SMU on Friday, the Aggies shot the ball well after a bit of a rough start. They missed four of their first five shots, but went on to shoot 60.4 percent from the field and a sizzling 64.7 percent from long range (11 of 17).
“You always want to shoot well, but it’s also about doing other things when you are not shooting the basketball well,” Odom said. “We feel we have good shooters and wanted to encourage them to take the right shots. We reviewed our shots from game two and took it to heart. They were ready to play today.”
The same can not be said for Washington State, especially from beyond the arc. The Cougars made just 2 of 17 from 3-point land (11.8 percent). They did make 44.4 percent from the field.
Washington State was led by Mouhamec Gueye with a game-best 22 points. He also pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds. JJ Bamba added 19 points, while Justin Powell chipped in 10.
The game was tied three times in the early going until the Aggies used a 13-2 surge to get in front. Funk hit a 3-pointer six-and-a-half minutes into the game to give USU its first lead of the game. Shulga capped the run with a trey as the Aggies took a 19-11 lead with 10:22 left in the opening half.
Ashworth sank one of his three long-range bombs in the game, Dorius made a pair of free throws, and RJ Eytle-Rock drilled a 3-pointer as USU built its first double-digit lead, 29-19, at the 5:07 mark of the first half.
Funk hustled to come up with an offensive rebound and scored to give the Aggies their largest lead of the first 20 minutes, 42-27. USU took a 42-29 lead into the break.
The Aggies made 7 of 11 from long range in the first half, while the Cougars were 0 of 7 from 3-point range. Ten USU players saw action with nine of them scoring in the first half. Five different Aggies made a 3-pointer in the first half.
The Aggies built a 56-41 lead after Shulga scored and was hit with two technicals for complaining. Powell hit all four free throws, and the Cougars got another point off an ensuing possession on a foul shot to get within 56-46.
Just when it was looking like Washington State might be gaining some momentum, USU went on a 12-0 run.
Bairstow got it going with a runner in the paint. Washington State’s Jabe Mullins was called for a flagrant two foul and ejected. Ashworth made one free throw, and AKin scored in the paint on the ensuing possession. Dorius scored, Jones hit a 3-pointer, and Ashworth hit a jumper to cap the run. On the next possession after the Cougars had scored, Ashworth drilled a 3-pointer to give the Aggies their largest lead of the game, 76-53, with 8:48 to play.
There was a stretch where USU scored at least a point on 12 straight possessions.
The Cougars used a 9-0 run to get within 14 points with 5:37 to play. Dorius ended a scoring drought of more than three-and-a-half minutes scoring near the basket off a pass from Ashworth.
Washington State would get no closer than the final score
TIP-INS
Utah State went into the game with a KenPom ranking of 44, while Washington State was at 76. … The Aggies 11-2 start to the season is the best since the 2019-20 team started 13-2. USU had 21 assists and 13 turnovers. … The Aggies lost the battle of the boards for just the third time this season, 28-26, for the ninth. ... The Aggie bench outscored their counterparts, 27-12, and improved to 10-1 when accomplishing this. ... {span style=”font-family: Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff;”}{span class=”x_ContentPasted0” style=”font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000;”}USU scored 20 points off of WSU’s 13 turnovers, marking the third game this season USU has scored at least 20 points off of turnovers. ... {span style=”font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000 !important; background-color: #ffffff !important;”}{strong class=”x_FluidPluginCopy” style=”font-weight: normal;”}{span class=”x_ContentPasted0” style=”font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000 !important; font-weight: 400;”}The Aggies outscored the Cougars in the paint, 40-30, tying for the third-most points in the paint this season.{/span}{/strong}{/span}{/span}{/span} … USU has had at least three players reach double figures in scoring in every game and at least five in seven games now. … The Aggies lead the all-time series with the Cougars, 8-1.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Ashworth made the Diamond Head Classic all-tournament team. The junior averaged 14.7 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.7 steals a game.
In the three contests, Ashworth shot 48.3 percent from the field (14 of 29), 47.8 percent from beyond the 3-point line (11 of 23) and 71.4 percent from the foul line (5 of 7). He averaged 28 minutes a game.
The Aggie guard started the first two games and came off the bench in the final one. He led the team in scoring in two of the three games.
GAME BALL
For the second game in a row Dorius gets the nod. The senior came up big when the Aggies needed him and tied for the team lead in scoring with 12 points on 4 of 6 shooting from the field and 4 of 6 from the foul line. The 12 points matches his career high. The center also grabbed four rebounds, dished out two assists to tie his career high and had a season-high two steals. He played a season-high 22 minutes.
UP NEXT
The Aggies return home to prepare for the Mountain West Conference opener. USU will host Fresno State (4-7) on Saturday in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. Tipoff is set for noon. The Bulldogs open league action on Wednesday, hosting Wyoming. The Aggies have a bye for the first day of MW play.
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