Brock Miller hit a pair of big 3-pointers in the final two minutes and Justin Bean had 24 points and a career-high 19 rebounds to lift Utah State to a 73-70 win over Oklahoma in the championship game of the Myrtle Beach Invitational on Sunday in Conway, S.C.
The Sooners led for much of the second half before Miller’s 3-pointer with 1:43 remaining put the Aggies ahead by one.
Miller finished with 16 points — 10 in the second half — for Utah State (4-1).
The Aggies were just 1 of 10 from beyond the arc in the second half before Miller’s 3-pointer with 1:43 remaining put Utah State ahead for the first time since the opening seconds of the second half.
The door was opened for the Sooners in the final 15 seconds after Bean missed the second of two free throws that could’ve made it a two-possession game. Jalen Hill grabbed the rebound and fed it up to Jordan Goldwire, who attacked the bucket and laid it in with six seconds remaining to cut the Aggies’ lead to one.
Bean made a pair of free throws on the other end, then Utah State fouled Goldwire before he could get a shot up. Goldwire missed the front end of a one-and-one, Brandon Horvath grabbed the rebound and the Aggies dribbled out the clock to seal the win.
Umoja Gibson and Tanner Groves scored 16 each to lead the Sooners (4-1).
Groves struggled in the first half, going just 1 for 5 from the floor, missing both 3-point attempts.
Brandon Horvath, the Aggies’ 6-foot-10 forward, helped keep the Sooners’ leading scorer in check for much of the early part of the game but when Horvath picked up his second and third fouls in the opening minutes of the second half, Groves finally got going.
The Eastern Washington transfer scored eight points in a 10-4 Sooners stretch with Horvath on the bench to give the Sooners their biggest lead to that point.
Utah State jumped out to a five-point lead early in the game with a 13-3 run, hitting a trio of 3-pointers during the stretch, including a pair from Miller.
The Sooners had struggled with turnovers through their first four games and did again early, with five in the first 13 minutes.
But Oklahoma didn’t have another until less than nine minutes remained in the game.
–Field Level Media
