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Logan • Utah State's new-look men's basketball team made its public debut Friday night at the Spectrum, where the White team scored a 33-24 victory over the Blues.

The game featured a pair of 10-minute halves. A handful of players spent time on both teams.

In the end, junior forward Lew Evans finished with 10 points and four rebounds in 14 minutes. He is a transfer from Tulsa who will be required to sit out this season. Sophomore forward Jalen Moore added nine points and five rebounds in 17 minutes. He was 3 for 4 from the 3-point line.

Chris Smith had the most impressive outing among Utah State's three key junior college transfers. He finished with six points and four rebounds in a game-high 18 minutes. Trace Cureton scored two points in 13 minutes. Darius Perkins was scoreless on 0-for-6 shooting. He played 14 minutes.

"Some of these kids from [junior college] and high school … aren't used to this kind of setting, and it showed," said coach Stew Morrill. "They understand we're a long ways away. We've had 17 practices. We have 13 more before we play an official game against Weber [State], and my message is we've got to get a lot better. We have to get a lot better to compete in a Division I game.

"There were a few good things, but we didn't play as hard as we've practiced. We had a lot of slippage with our offensive and defensive schemes. Guys were jittery. That's why everybody in athletics talks about experience. That's why it is [important], and the faster these guys can gain some, the better off we'll be."

Utah State officials estimated a crowd of 2,500 showed up for the scrimmage. They were loud and supportive of a team picked to finish 10th in the Mountain West Conference preseason poll.

"What I think the challenge for our fans is watching this team grow and not get discouraged and try to help us in one of the better leagues in the country," Morrill said. "The Mountain West is a great league — a great basketball league. So the more we can have of that, the better."

— Steve Luhm