Reno, Nev. • Most observers would agree that Deonte Burton is the best player in the Western Athletic Conference. The Nevada point guard, a sophomore, has a good shot to play in the NBA. He’s bailed the Wolf Pack out time and again with his heroics this season, and shows no signs of slowing down.
Even for him, however, his shot to beat Utah State 53-52 on Thursday night was ridiculous.
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Key moment
Nevada’s Deonte Burton hits the game-winning 3-pointer with 11.8 seconds remaining.Online now » It’s only natural for Utah State to play the “what if” game after such a bitter defeat.
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With USU guard Preston Medlin hanging all over him, Burton threw up an off-balance 3-pointer, a shot in which his chief goal was to get to the free-throw line. Somehow, the ball went straight through the basket with 11.8 seconds remaining in front of 9,988 at Lawlor Events center. When the Aggies couldn’t score on their end, the Wolf Pack escaped with their 16-game win streak, their 19-3 overall record and their unbeaten WAC season still intact.
"He’s been bailing them out all season," USU coach Stew Morrill said. "But … that was just a tough shot. To have him hit a shot like that … it’s just tough."
Instead of securing its best road win of the season, and a victory over the best team in the conference, Utah State is left wondering what more it has to do in order to have a game against a good opponent go its way on the road.
Statistically, the Aggies accomplished everything they set out to do. Utah State outrebounded Nevada 43-28. The Aggies forced turnovers and held the Wolf Pack to 37.5 percent shooting for the game.
But Nevada shot 15 free-throws, while Utah State shot four. And turnovers did in the Aggies at the worst times.
"We came out and we played really hard," Medlin said. "That’s something that we need to realize and be able to carry over into the next game. We did what we needed to, it just didn’t go our way tonight."
With a triangle-and-two defense befuddling the Wolf Pack, Utah State held Burton scoreless for the first 28 minutes. It says something about Burton that he scored all 13 of his points within an 11-minute stretch in the second half.
He and Malik Story came up with big 3-pointers down the stretch. And they were enough to overcome several deficits. Utah State went on an 8-0 run early in the second half to take a 36-35 lead. Two shots later, the Wolf Pack trimmed that to 36-35.
E.J. Farris hit a 3-pointer to give the Aggies a 42-37 advantage with 9:16 remaining. A quick 5-0 run by Nevada negated that.
Every time Utah State had an opportunity to put the game away, somebody would come up big for the Wolf Pack. Finally, Burton was able to find his game and carry his team to the win.
Medlin led USU with 15 points, 13 of them coming in the second half. Brockeith Pane had 12 points and five assists, but turned the ball over seven times.
"It hurts that we weren’t able to come away with this," Pane said. "All we can do now is get ready for the next game."
Twitter: @tonyaggieville
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