The Utah State Aggies needed a near-miracle to keep their winning streak alive.
The Aggies got an extremely rare five-point play with 8.4 seconds left to beat the UNLV Rebels, 87-86, last Saturday night in Las Vegas for their 15th victory in a row.
Utah State is now 16-1 overall and 4-0 in the Mountain West and No. 1 in this week's Nevada Appeal Mountain West rankings.
Utah State’s Darius Brown drained a 3-pointer and UNLV’s Kalib Boone fouled the Aggies’ Great Osobor under the basket while the shot was in the air. Osobor made the two free throws to give Utah State its first lead of the game.
“When I was at the line Coach (Danny) Sprinkle was like, ‘You’re built for this,’” the 6-foot-8 Osobor said. “Everyone was like, ‘Go win this one.’ I calmed down and prayed real quick.”
Sprinkle coached Osobor the past two seasons at Montana State. Osobor scored 20 points in the second half against UNLV to finish with 24 points, 14 rebounds, four assists and two blocks.
“It shows he’s maturing,” Sprinkle said. “A year or two years ago I don’t know if he could have done that. He’s grown spiritually, physically, mentally, all of it.”
No. 7 UNLV (8-7, 1-2) had an impressive 83-73 win over New Mexico earlier in the week. Utah State, though, spoiled the Rebels' week on Saturday in front of a disappointing crowd of 5,992 in Las Vegas.
“Up four with 14 seconds left, you are going to win most of those games,” UNLV coach Kevin Krueger said. “There’s nothing to say after a game like that.”
UNLV, which got 23 points, nine rebounds and two steals from Luis Rodriguez and 18 points, six rebounds and four steals from Kalib Boone, led for all but the final eight seconds.
“They dominated for 39 minutes and 51 seconds,” Sprinkle said. “I kept looking up at the scoreboard and I kept saying to myself, ‘I can’t believe we’re down (just) five points, down six points. We were down seven at the half and that could have been 20 with the way we were playing.”
Boone was called for the crucial foul despite the fact that he was in front of Osobor and facing Brown. Osobor seemed to stumble behind Boone and fell down, getting the questionable call.
“At some point you’re going to have tough losses,” Krueger said. “You hope (your players) can get through it quickly and move on.”
The Boise State Broncos (12-4, 3-0) stunned No. 3 Nevada (15-2, 2-1) in from of a crowd of 10, 191 in Reno, 64-56, to move to No. 2. Tyson Degenhart scored 20 points and had nine rebounds to lead the Broncos. Nevada got 15 points from Kenan Blackshear and 14 from Jarod Lucas.
“That was a tough one as we knew it would be,” Boise State coach Leon Rice said. “We were kind of a train wreck against the press and were teetering a little bit but we only turned it over one time during that time, so we were able to weather the storm.”
Boise easily won the rebound battle, 43-24.
“The biggest difference was the glass,” Rice said.
Rice praised the Wolf Pack crowd.
“It (the crowd noise) was deafening,” Rice said. “The guys couldn’t hear us. Not a lot of teams are going to come in here and win.”
No. 4 New Mexico (14-3, 2-2) rolled over No. 5 San Diego State, 88-70, in front of crowd of 15,437 at Albuquerque. Jaelen House led New Mexico with 26 points, six rebounds, five assists, three steals and four 3-pointers.
“Hats off to the Lobos,” San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher said. “They’ve done what they are supposed to do (win at home).”
The Lobos also got 17 points and 16 rebounds from J.T. Toppin, though Toppin did miss 9-of-10 free throws. Toppin and Nelly Joseph each blocked five shots for New Mexico.
“To the 15,437, I can’t thank you enough,” New Mexico coach Richard Pitino said. “It’s a special building, the most underrated fan base in college basketball.”
The crowd was the largest to witness a Lobos game at home since 2009. The 18-point margin of victory is the Lobos’ largest against a Top 25 ranked team since it beat Nevada, 85-58, in the 2018-19 season.
No. 6 Colorado State (13-3, 1-2) fell to Boise State, 65-58, last Tuesday in its only game last week. No. 8 Wyoming used a last-second jumper by Akuel Kot to beat No. 10 Fresno State, 68-67. Brendan Wenzel also had 18 points and eight rebounds and Sam Griffin scored 16 for Wyoming, which is now 9-8, 2-2.
Fresno State (7-9, 0-3), which got 15 points, seven rebounds and two steals from Isaiah Pope, led 35-28 at halftime.
“I wish we’d make it a little easier and figure out how to play a bit harder in the first half,” Wyoming coach Jeff Linder said. “We’ve been talking about that ad nauseam. We can’t be that lethargic in understanding what we want to do to them.”
No. 9 San Jose State (8-9, 1-3) outlasted No. 11 Air Force, 70-67, in front of just 1,804 at Air Force’s Clune Arena. Myron Amey drilled a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the victory, finishing with 16 points and nine rebounds.
San Jose State had led 46-33 at halftime. Air Force got 18 points and seven rebounds from Beau Becker and 15 points, seven boards from Rytis Petraitis.
“It was insanity, my God,” smiled San Jose State coach Tim Miles said. “It was a great way to get our first Mountain West win.
“Nothing was open (on the last possession). So, we throw it to (Amey) and he bailed us out.
“That’s a weight off our chest. I feel 20 pounds lighter.”
The Nevada Appeal Mountain West men’s basketball rankings for the week of Jan. 15:
1. UTAH STATE (16-1, 4-0): Last week: Utah State 83, Wyoming 59 (Jan. 9); Utah State 87, UNLV 86 (Jan. 13). This week: Utah State at New Mexico (Jan. 16); Fresno State at Utah State (Jan. 20).
2. BOISE STATE (12-4, 3-0): Last week: Boise State 65, Colorado State 58 (Jan. 9); Boise State 64, Nevada 56 (Jan. 12). This week: UNLV at Boise State (Jan. 16); San Diego State at Boise State (Jan. 20).
3. NEVADA (15-2, 2-1): Last week: Nevada 67, Air Force 54 (Jan. 9); Boise State 64, Nevada 56 (Jan. 12). This week: Nevada at San Diego State (Jan. 17), Nevada at Wyoming (Jan. 20).
4. NEW MEXICO (14-3, 2-2): Last week: UNLV 83, New Mexico 73 (Jan. 9); New Mexico 88, San Diego State 70 (Jan. 13). This week: Utah State at New Mexico (Jan. 16); New Mexico at Air Force (Jan. 20).
5. SAN DIEGO STATE (14-3, 3-1): Last week: San Diego State 81, San Jose State 78 (Jan. 9); New Mexico 88, San Diego State 70 (Jan. 13). This week: Nevada at San Diego State (Jan. 17); San Diego State at Boise State (Jan. 20).
6. COLORADO STATE (13-3, 1-2): Last week: Boise State 65, Colorado State 58 (Jan. 9). This week: Air Force at Colorado State (Jan. 16); UNLV at Colorado State (Jan. 19).
7. UNLV (8-7, 1-2): Last week: UNLV 83, New Mexico 73 (Jan. 9); Utah State 87, UNLV 86 (Jan. 13). This week: UNLV at Boise State (Jan. 16); UNLV at Colorado State (Jan. 19).
8. WYOMING (9-8, 2-2): Last week: Utah State 83, Wyoming 59 (Jan. 9); Wyoming 68, Fresno State 67 (Jan. 13). This week: Nevada at Wyoming (Jan. 20).
9. SAN JOSE STATE (8-9, 1-3): Last week: San Diego State 81, San Jose State 78 (Jan. 9); San Jose State 70, Air Force 67 (Jan. 13). This week: San Jose State at Fresno State (Jan. 16).
10. FRESNO STATE (7-9, 0-3): Last week: Wyoming 68, Fresno State 67 (Jan. 13). This week: San Jose State at Fresno State (Jan. 16); Fresno State at Utah State (Jan. 20).
11. AIR FORCE (7-8, 0-3): Last week: Nevada 67, Air Force 54 (Jan. 9); San Jose State 70, Air Force 67 (Jan. 13). This week: Air Force at Colorado State (Jan. 16); New Mexico at Air Force (Jan. 20).