The Tribune

By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net    

BAHAMIAN guard Deyton Albury and the Utah State Aggies men’s basketball team kept up their winning ways on Wednesday night against the University of Nevada Rebels in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball action.

The Aggies improved to 19-2 (win/loss record) on the season after defeating the Rebels 76-71 at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum in Logan, Utah.

While the Aggies picked up another win, the Rebels fell to 11-10 with the recent loss.

Albury played a pivotal role on the offensive end in Utah State’s five-point victory. He pitched in a season-high 16 points, five rebounds and three steals while shooting 67 per cent from the field in 22 minutes.

The Aggies had the edge for the first 38 minutes of gameplay to go up by as much as 16 points in the first half. 

The team held a 23-7 advantage after canning six-of-10 threes early in the contest.

The Rebels rebelled against the Aggies three-point barrage to trim the lead down to single digits (33-24) at the halftime break.

Albury, who poured 11 of his 16 points in the second half, shared his mindset during his offensive burst in the next segment of play.

“That has been my game all my life, heavy in transition and running up and down. When I came to the USA, I had to learn to play in the halfcourt which has gotten my game a lot better…Coach trusted me to make those plays down the stretch and my teammates made it easy for me,” he said.

The Aggies 6-foot-2 guard added that he also wanted to step up after the defence started to pressure his teammates Ian Martinez and Mason Falslev.

“I just knew how the game was going. They were making things hard on our two leading scorers Ian and Mason and the coach trusted me, called some plays for me and I just trusted myself and executed,” he said.

The UNLV Rebels continued to chip away at the Aggies deficit. The visitors reeled off a 12-1 run to tie game at 56 apiece following a pair of freebies made by Jalen Hill.

With the Aggies holding a three-point cushion (61-58), Albury poured in seven straight points for the home team, including a big three with 2:29 on the game clock.

He relished in the big moment during the postgame press conference. 

“It felt good. I think we were up five with two minutes left and it felt great especially in respect of all the fans going crazy. I made the shot and looking around with all the people going crazy it was surreal,” he said.

Utah State put together a 13-3 run towards the end of the game to stave off the pesky Rebels.

The victors outscored UNLV 11 to 0 in the open court and outrebounded them 34-32.

The Aggies shot the ball well, going 48 per cent from the field while holding UNLV to 42.9 per cent shooting.

Utah State will host New Mexico at home on Saturday at 7:30pm in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.