Utah State defeats Utah Tech with a 92-62 win to remain undefeated

LOGAN – The Utah State Aggies had a moment or two of concern but emerged unscathed from Saturday’s game against Utah Tech.

The Aggies (9-0, 1-0 Mountain West) continued their undefeated season with a stunning 92-62 victory over the Trailblazers (2-9), who lost their third straight game and are yet to record a road win this season have .

“This week it was a big focus for us to go out and run and score a lot of points,” Utah State guard Drake Allen said. “It feels good. It always feels good to score over 90; that’s hard to achieve.”

Dexter Akanno led the Aggies with 16 points off the bench; and Ian Martinez scored 13 points and added five assists, while Mason Falslev had 9 points and nine rebounds.

Allen contributed 12 points on 5 of 9 shooting, seven assists and four rebounds.

In recent games, the Aggies have won by 5 points or less. Martinez said earlier this week that the win over Wyoming shouldn’t have been as close as it ended up being. Allen shared the same opinion about the last few games.

In total, 12 players saw the court for the Aggies and 11 scored a goal. Five Aggies players scored in double figures.

“We went into the game knowing we were going to be playing a lot of guys,” Aggies coach Jerrod Calhoun said.

Calhoun became the first Aggies coach in his first season in school history to start 9-0.

“I think it’s a testament to our group,” Calhoun said of the award. “We have a ‘we’re above me’ mentality. So it’s not about me. … I think what it shows is that if you can get a group of guys together and they have a common goal, you can win games.”

Utah State led 12-11, then went ahead 12-0 and extended the lead to 32-15. But the Trailblazers went on a 9-0 run and forced Calhoun to call a timeout.

That meant the Trailblazers were closest to the Aggies. Utah State got back on track and built a 22-point lead to a 30-point lead early in the second half.

But even though the Aggies ended up winning quite comfortably, Calhoun said the team still had a lot of cleaning up to do.

“I was just a little upset with our turnovers and our lack of concentration during the game,” Calhoun said.

Utah State committed 14 turnovers and the Trailblazers scored 15 points off of them.

Justin Bieker led Utah Tech with 14 points, shooting 4 of 7 from the 3-point line. Beon Riley, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder, did not play.