Great Osobor scored a game-high 20 points, Darius Brown II collected a double-double and No. 20 Utah State opened the second half with 11 straight points in an 83-59 Mountain West Conference win over visiting Wyoming on Tuesday.
Brown added 13 points and 11 assists for the Aggies (15-1, 3-0), which won their 14th straight game since a Nov. 11 overtime loss at Bradley. Isaac Johnson chipped in 10 points as Utah State hit 52.5 percent from the field, including 20 of 33 in the second half.
Mason Walters scored 17 points and Akuel Kot added 14 for the Cowboys (8-8, 1-2) but it wasn’t enough. Wyoming made only 40 percent of its field-goal tries and had 16 turnovers, which the Aggies cashed in for 17 points.
Utah State led 35-33 at the start of the second half but quickly pulled away. Osobor had a hand in nine points during the game-changing run. He made a layup, fed Johnson for a 3-pointer and then dunked on consecutive trips, forcing the Cowboys to call a timeout with 16:02 left and the Aggies leading 46-33.
It didn’t get any better from there for Wyoming as Utah State’s lead was at least 20 points for the final 3:17.
Playing its first game as a ranked team this season, Utah State got all it wanted from the Cowboys in the first half, even though it never trailed. Wyoming answered runs and played with the kind of poise it hasn’t always shown in the first half of its season.
It was 14-14 just over 5 1/2 minutes from the start before the game settled into a more defensive posture. The Aggies held the Cowboys without a point for 4:05 in building a 26-19 advantage.
However, Wyoming fought back and got within 30-29 on Kot’s layup with 2:35 left. Walters closed the half with a layup that enabled the Cowboys to head for intermission down by only two points.
–Field Level Media