LOGAN, Utah (ABC4 Sports) – With so many new players and a new head coach, it may take a little while for the Utah State basketball team to gel.
But after a slow start Tuesday night against Southern Utah, the Aggies turned it on behind a career-high 31 points from Great Osobar in a 93-84 victory over the Thunderbirds.
Osobar, a transfer from Montana State, made 9-of-12 shots from the field, to go along with 10 rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots.
“It’s cool, I guess,” Osobar said. “It’s really awesome to see progression. The last couple of years, I played behind the great big man in Jubrile Belo. I learned a lot from him. I got to watch him every day, the way he worked, the way he approached going to games, practice, the weight room, everything and I felt like that helped me now that I’m in this situation where I’m expected to do a lot more. I have a blueprint to watch him. Kind of have a cheat sheet to the test.”
Darius Brown made 5-of-9 three-pointers to finish with 21 points for the Aggies, who improved to 2-1 on the season.
Southern Utah took a 10-point halftime lead before Utah State finished the half on a 21-10 run to take a 46-45 lead into the break.
Utah State stretched its lead to as high as 14 points in the second half, and withstood a late SUU rally.
Josh Uduje scored 14 points for the Aggies, while Mason Falslev added 11 points and nine rebounds. The Aggies shot a blistering hit 63.5 percent from the field.
“I told the guys too that I’m not happy with our defensive effort,” said USU head coach Danny Sprinkle. “My expectations are a lot higher than theirs are and my expectations aren’t going anywhere. They’re either going to match my expectations or it’s not going to be pretty in practice because we have to do a lot better job guarding the basketball than we did tonight.”
Prophet Johnson led Southern Utah with 24 points, while Dominique Ford finished with 19.
Utah State next heads to South Carolina for the Charleston Classic, where the Aggies will take on Marshall on Sunday at 3:00 p.m.
