Great Osobor lived up to his first name on Tuesday night with 19 of his game-high 31 points in the second half as No. 17 Utah State pulled away from San Jose State for an 82-61 Mountain West Conference win in Logan, Utah.
Osobor was 9 of 15 from the field and 13 of 19 at the foul line. Ian Martinez added 16 points on 6-of-6 shooting and Darius Brown II recorded an 11-point, 10-rebound double-double as the Aggies (19-2, 7-1 Mountain West) upped their lead in the conference to one game over New Mexico ahead of a big meeting with San Diego State on Saturday.
Myron Amey Jr. and Alvaro Cardenas paced the Spartans (8-13, 1-7) with 14 and 11 points, respectively. But Amey required 18 shots to get his points as San Jose State continues to sit in last place in the conference.
The key spurt came early in the second half after the Spartans drew within 41-36 with 17:40 left on a jumper by Amey. Utah State then rattled off 12 straight points, getting 3-pointers from Martinez and Isaac Johnson, plus a three-point play from Osobor, to take a 53-36 advantage at the 14:26 mark.
San Jose State kept working but couldn’t get the margin below 10 for the game’s remainder. Osobor dunked with 5:53 remaining for a 69-51 cushion, and the Aggies coasted to the final buzzer.
Utah State entered as a 13 1/2-point favorite but had to work throughout a first half in which the Spartans used the 3-point line to get off to a good start. Amey and Trey Anderson each nailed a 3-pointer as the visitors opened up a 13-7 advantage by the first media timeout.
San Jose State led at the 7:53 mark after Rickey Mitchell Jr. buried a 3-pointer, but the Aggies were able to create some separation later in the half with a 10-2 run that Osobor capped with a layup to make it 35-26 with 1:21 remaining. Brown’s layup just before time expired gave Utah State a 37-30 advantage at the break.
–Field Level Media