WEB EXTRA: USU loses exhibition game

USU 67 NL SPORTS 72

LOGAN, Utah — Shawn Daniels scored 17 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds while Michael Nurse added 15 points to lead Next Level Sports to a 72-67 exhibition win over Utah State University Saturday.

Daniels, who led Utah State in scoring during his junior and senior years in Logan, clinched the win with a layin, on a nifty pass from Nurse, formerly of Iowa State, to make the score 71-67 with 19 seconds left in the game. Two shots by Aggies Tony Brown and Desmond Pinegar failed as time ran out.

USU was led in scoring by Brown, with 19 points, and Pinegar with 17. Junior college transfer and starting point guard Ronnie Ross had 14.

The Aggies led by 15 points with 12 minutes left in the second half, but Next Level fought their way to a one-point deficit, 60-61at 4:20, when Daniels dropped in a five-footer. Nurse had dropped in three three-point shots during a string of 11 unanswered points during the Next Level comeback.

USU lost the lead to Next Level for the first time since early in the game when Courtney James, former Minnesota player, made a layin in the paint to make the score 66-65 with 2:02 remaining. Four Nurse free throws then kept Next Level on top.

In the opening half, USU employed a zone defense midway through the period to slow down Next Level’s inside game, which was sparked led by 11 quick points from Daniels. Next Level was then forced to shoot more from the outside and connected on only one of eight attempts from the three-point stripe.

Meanwhile, USU’s Brown was more effective from the outside than Next Level, hitting 4-of-4 in the half, two from beyond the three-point line. USU led 41-31 at halftime.

USU 67 NEXT LEVEL 72

NEXT LEVEL SPORTS

Lloyd 5-11 0-3 10, Daniels 8-11 1-4 17, James 2-5 1-2 5, Rice 2-4 2-4 6, Saxon 0-2 0-0 0, Powell 1-1 2-3 4, Nurse 4-10 4-4 15, Hawkins 2-5 1-2 6, Mandeville 2-8 2-2 6, Holland 1-2 0-0 3.

Totals: 27-59 13-24 7

UTAH STATE (exh)

Penigar 6-15 2-2 15, Johnson 1-5 1-3 3, Vague Ahmad 3-6 0-0 6, Ross 4-7 5-5 14, Brown 5-9 5-5 19, Vincent 1-2 0-0 3, Stowell 0-1 0-0 0, Williams 0-0- 0-0 0, Ray 1-4 0-0 2, Evans 0-1 2-2 2.

Totals: 22-55 17-20 67.

Halftime: NEXT LEVEL 31 USU 41

3-point goals — NEXT LEVEL 5-18 (Nurse 3-9, Holland 1-1, Hawkins 1-3, Rice 0-1, Saxon 0-1, Lloyd 0-3). USU 6-16 (Brown 3-6, Vincent 1-2, Ross 1-3, Pinegar 1-4, Stowell 0-1).

Fouled out — none

Rebounds- NEXT LEVEL 35 (Daniels 8) USU 36 (Pinegar 8)

Assists – NEXT LEVEL 19 (Nurse, Saxon 3) USU 12 (Ross, Brown, Vincent 3).

Total fouls- NEXT LEVEL 17 USU 19.

Attendance: 3,567.