No. 25 San Diego State ekes out win at Utah State

Matt Bradley had 18 points and three steals as No. 25 San Diego State held on for a 63-61 win over Utah State in a Mountain West Conference game on Wednesday in Logan, Utah.

Jaedon LeDee had 14 points and 10 rebounds off the bench and Micah Parrish contributed 12 points in a reserve role for the Aztecs (19-5, 10-2 MWC), who stretched their lead to one game over second-place Nevada in the conference standings.

Steven Ashworth had 18 points and six assists while Taylor Funk had 11 points and nine rebounds for the Aggies (19-6, 8-4), who could have moved into a tie for first with a victory.

Utah State, which came into the day as the top 3-point shooting team in the nation at 41.8 percent, shot 5 of 19 (26.3 percent) from beyond the arc for the game.

The Aggies trailed by 16 points at the half and by 10 with five minutes left.

Funk scored on a fastbreak to make it 62-59 with 1:52 to go, and Dan Akin continued the 9-0 run with two free throws with a minute remaining to make it a one-point game.

Bradley missed on a drive with 24 seconds left and LeDee couldn't convert the tip, but Utah State's Max Shulga missed a jumper with four seconds to go. San Diego State's Keshad Johnson grabbed the rebound, was fouled and made 1 of 2 free throws with 1.8 seconds left.

The Aztecs were leading 27-17 with 6:49 remaining in the half when a scuffle broke out as the teams headed to their benches for a timeout.

San Diego State point guard and second-leading scorer Darrion Trammell was ejected for leaving the bench, as were two walk-on players and an assistant coach for Utah State.

The Aggies quickly cut the deficit to six, but the Aztecs eventually took a 44-28 lead into the break.

The Aggies scored the first six points of the second half to slice their deficit to single digits, and an 8-0 run pulled them within 56-51 with 10:30 left after a layup by Sean Bairstow.

Utah State didn't make another field goal until Ashworth rolled in a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 62-55 with 4:41 to play.