Aggies beat Aggies again

After losing to the same team just nine days earlier, the Utah State men’s basketball team lost again to the New Mexico State Aggies 83-77 Saturday in the Spectrum.

It was only the 10th-ever loss in the Spectrum for head coach Stew Morrill.

He is now 109-10 at home as the head coach of USU.

Aggie Nate Harris said the Aggies weren’t mentally prepared for this game.

“We allowed ourselves to relax,” he said. “We thought that because we’re in our place, it would come to us.”

Durrall Peterson led USU with 21 points, seven rebounds and five 3-pointers and Harris added another 18 points.

USU shot 52.6 percent from the field and 48 percent from 3-point range.

The Aggies also had 22 assists against only 13 turnovers.

“We played good enough offense to win,” Morrill said. “For whatever reason, we can’t get stops against them.”

The other Aggies shot 57.1 percent from 3-point range.

Peterson said the Aggies simply couldn’t keep up on defense.

“They’re quick,” he said. “They made a lot of tough shots. But this game’s erased now.”

Morrill said NMSU capitalized on USU’s weaknesses.

“We were at a disadvantage quickness-wise,” he said. “They exploited it. Sometimes you want to make it more complicated than that. They just beat us.”

Throughout the game, the sellout crowd of 10,270 continually voiced its displeasure with the referees.

“The officiating was poor,” Morrill said.

NMSU jumped out to a 13-4 lead to start the game. At one point, it led 29-18 before USU went on an 11-0 run to tie the game.

The Aggies took a one-point lead with them into halftime when David Pak hit a three-point shot with just seconds remaining in the first period.

USU’s biggest lead came with 8:00 to play in the second half when Nate Harris made a layup to put the Aggies up 62-57.

But NMSU would answer with a 6-0 run to climb right back in the game.

USU was out-rebounded 35-29 and allowed the southern Aggies to grab 17 offensive boards.

Harris said the Aggies can’t pin the blame of this loss on anyone other than themselves.

“Rebounds show who the more aggressive team is,” he said. “They were the aggressors.

“We’ve been trying to hang our hat on the offensive end. We can’t do that. We have to rebound.”

Harris said after the loss, the team is at a crossroads.

“There’s only two ways to go now – up or down,” he said. “We have to go up.”

Peterson said the Aggies need to take practice during the week more seriously.

“People go to work for that paycheck,” he said. “Our paycheck is games. Sometimes, you don’t want to go to work because you just want the paycheck. We can’t do that anymore.”

The loss dropped the Aggies to 16-6 on the season and 7-4 in the Western Athletic Conference.

NMSU improved to 10-12 overall and 6-5 in league play.

USU will travel to Idaho Wednesday to take on the Vandals, who are only 4-17 on the year.

The Aggies one the first meeting between the teams 83-58 in the Spectrum on Jan. 14.

-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu

Utah State’s Chris Huber (left) and Nate Harris sit dejected at the end of Saturday’s game against New Mexico State. USU lost 83-77.

Utah State’s Cass Matheus is guarded by two New Mexico State defenders in Saturday’s game at the Spectrum. USU lost 83-77.