It wasn’t pretty at times and kept the largest crowd of the season on their feet or at least on the edge of their seats. In the end, the Aggie men’s basketball team was able to pick up an important Mountain West Conference win at home, edging San Jose State 75-74 in front of 8,895 fans.

“It was a really tough game,” said Shulga, who sank the second free throw after missing the first to break a tie with 5.8 ticks left on the clock. “San Jose has a really good team and plays physical ball. We just had to stay level headed and trust in the game plan and think about the next play.”

There was still plenty of time on the clock for the Spartans (12-8, 3-4 MW). Alvaro Cardenas got up a 3-pointer at the buzzer, but it was just off the mark, and the Aggies (16-4, 5-2) breathed a sigh of relief.

“I turned my head up when they (Spartans) were shooting, and I was like, ‘please don’t go in,’” said Shulga, who ran into a hard screen near midcourt and was on the floor when the final shot was taken.

In a one-point game, obviously many plays can be analyzed.

“Certainly San Jose State played a great game,” USU head coach Ryan Odom said. “But I thought our guys did just enough to make it happen. I’m really proud of the effort and enthusiasm that the building we all shared together. It’s a special place, the biggest crowd we’ve had this year. Hopefully there is more to come.”

Shulga was asked about the free throws at the end. He had driven to the basket as the Aggies had the ball with 22.4 seconds to play after a San Jose State turnover.

“Naturally, you start thinking like, ‘Oh my God, no way I just missed it,’ but you just try to dismiss those thoughts and trust your follow through, your shot and just stay in the moment,” Shulga said. “All of us shoot free throws every day so it’s just a matter of staying composed and don’t get too high when we go on a run or don’t get too low when they go on a run, so it was just staying composed and staying level-headed.”

The Spartans had 17 offensive rebounds and near the end of the game had four opportunities to score, but failed. Steven Ashworth eventually grabbed a rebound to stop that threat.

“You just try to go play by play,” Shulga said. “You still have to play defense and be disciplined.”

Following that stop, the Aggies came down and Ashworth ignited the crowd with his fifth 3-pointer of the game. The trey gave USU a 74-72 lead with 1:43 to play.

The Spartans were able to knot-up the game when Sage Tobert scored in the paint with 1:25 left in the game.

Both teams failed to score on their next possessions. Ashworth missed a 3-point attempt for USU, and Omari Moore stumbled and lost the ball out of bounds for SJSU. That set up the Aggies having the ball with the game tied and 22.4 seconds left.

“So many big plays,” Odom said, “I’m not going to go back through them but you think about Steven’s hot shooting, and determination and the offensive rebound (by Dan Akin), and Taylor (Funk)’s 3 in the corner, and wherewithal to find him on that, to the execution underneath out of bounds, and certainly the last play there was a big one. Max getting fouled and he was able to not get a free throw to the last stop. It was just all in all a really gutsy win for our team.”

After the offensive board by Akin, Shulga found Funk for a 3-pointer. That came with 2:50 to play and brought the hosts within a point, setting up the stage for the trey by Ashworth.

Ashworth led the Aggies with 19 points and six assists. Shulga (15) and Akin (130 joined Ashworth in double-digit scoring. Funk and Trevin Dorius each had eight points. Akin led the team on the boards with seven. Sean Bairstow matched Ashworth with six assists.

Tibet Gorener scored a game-high 20 points for the Spartans, hitting 6 of 9 from 3-point range. Cardenas had 17 points, and Moore netted 16 and dished out eight assists. Tolbert grabbed eight rebounds.

“I’d say our defense in the entire second half wasn’t very good,” SJSU head coach Tim Miles said. “We gave up 45 points and eight made threes. But we had a lead, so it kind of masked that. We were matching it for a while offensively. It’s a disappointing way to end the game. … We couldn’t get Ashworth under control. He's a heady player and he does a lot of good things. It was certainly very disappointing to control the game for a long time, most of the night, and not come out with the win.”

The Aggies missed their first three shots of the game, and the tone was set for the rest of the opening half. Points were hard to come by in the first four minutes.

Funk sank three free throws, and Akin slammed down a pass from Bairstow to give the Aggies their biggest lead of the first half, 12-9, at the 12:29 mark of the first half. It was a rare highlight of the first 20 minutes.

The Spartans strung together six straight points to get in front, 15-12. A three-point play by Akin tied it up, but then it was mostly SJSU for the remainder of the first half.

After four lead changes and four ties, the Spartans surged ahead. Following a 8-2 run, the visitors took their biggest lead of the first half, 32-21, with 4:11 left before the break. Gorener and Cardenas hit 3-pointers during the run.

San Jose State took a 37-30 lead into halftime. The Spartans had 10 offensive rebounds that led to 16 second-chance points.

After three missed shots and a turnover to start the second half, the Aggies heated up from outside with a trio of 3-pointers. Ashworth hit two, including a pull up one after a steal, and Shulga drained a trey off a pass from Ashworth to pull the hosts within 40-39 less than three minutes into the second half.

USU took its first lead of the second half, 53-52, when Akin scored a layup off a pass from Ashworth, capping a 7-0 run. The teams would then trade 7-0 runs as each had a pair. Gorener drilled a 3-pointer to give the Spartans a 68-62 lead with 6:14 to play.

The Aggies kept clawing and eventually finished the game by outsourcing SJSU 11-4.

“I can’t say enough about San Jose State,” Odom said. “Coach Miles and his staff have done a great job of turning that program around in short order. It’s easy to tell when you watch them play, and you get a chance to watch them live, they play winning basketball. They defend you, they rebound, they’re tough, they make timely shots, they’re competitive, they were determined to win. I thought our guys were too.”

Just when it looked like the Spartans were going to win at USU for the first time since 1982, Shulga sank a foul shot. And for the second straight game Shulga hit a free throw to give the fans a free frozen custard from Culver’s.

USU ends the week in a four-way tie for second place in the conference standings, one game out of first.

TIP-INS

Utah State went into the game with a KenPom ranking of 44, while San Jose State was at 139. … The Aggies lost the battle of the boards for the fifth time this season, 33-27. … USU is now 3-2 when trailing at halftime this season. ... The Aggie bench was outscored by its counterparts for just the fifth time this season, 28-21, and are 3-2 in those games. … USU finished with 19 assists and improved to 15-0 on the season when having more assists than the opponent, as SJSU had 14. … Steven Ashworth attempted a career-high 13 3-point shots. … Trevin Dorius blocked two shots for the 13th time in his career, which is the most for the big man in a game. … The Aggies lead the all-time series with the Spartans, 69-22, and have now won nine in a row in the series. The Spartans are the second-most played MW opponent. USU is 18-1 against SJSU since joining the MW and 40-4 against the Spartans in games played in Logan.

DUNK COUNT

There were two in the game and both by the team leader. Dan Akin took passes from Sean Bairstow in each half and threw them down.

Season leaders are: Akin 24, Trevin Dorius 15, Bairstow 10, Taylor Funk 8, Zee Hamoda 3 and Szymon Zapala 1.

GAME BALL

Sure, he missed a free throw at the end, but he also made one, and it was the game winner. Max Shulga gets the ball in this game. The junior finished with 15 points on 6 of 8 field goals and was 2 of 4 from long range. The guard also grabbed five rebounds, dished out three assists and played 34 minutes.

UP NEXT

The Aggies head out on the road for two Mountain West games, beginning with first-place San Diego State (15-4, 6-1). The Aztecs won at Air Force late Saturday night, 70-60.