SAN DIEGO (AP) — Jaedon LeDee had 16 points and nine rebounds to lead San Diego State to an 81-67 win against Great Osobor and No. 17 Utah State on Saturday to pull the defending Mountain West champion Aztecs within one game of the Aggies.
LeDee scored nine points in the second half of the showdown between the top two scorers and rebounders in the league. Osobor had 17 points and seven rebounds.
The Aztecs (17-5, 6-3 Mountain West) beat the Aggies (19-3, 7-2) for the fifth straight time. That streak includes a win in the conference tournament championship game, and the Aztecs went on to reach their first Final Four, where they lost to UConn in the national championship game.
Jay Pal scored 16 for the Aztecs while Micah Parrish added 14 and Darrion Trammell 12.
Mason Falslev scored 16 and Darius Brown II 13 for Utah State.
SDSU, which lost three of its previous five games, took a 42-36 halftime lead on Reese Waters’ corner 3-pointer with four seconds left.
LeDee took over by scoring nine points in the first 4 1/2 minutes of the second half, including a 3-pointer, to help the Aztecs take a 54-44 lead.
The Aggies pulled within seven points with seven minutes to go before Elijah Saunders made consecutive shots for the Aztecs, including a 3-pointer that pushed the lead to 70-58.
BIG PICTURE
Utah State: The Aggies will have to wait at least one more game to clinch its 34th 20-win season.
San Diego State: The Aztecs improved to 10-0 at home against Utah State since it joined the Mountain West in 2013-14. Eight have been by double digits.
UP NEXT
Utah State hosts Nevada on Tuesday night.
San Diego State is at Air Force on Tuesday night.
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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
