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Logan • Nothing comes easy for young Utah State this season.

Consider the Aggies' 57-56 victory over Cal State Bakersfield in their first game of the World Vision Classic on Thursday night at the Spectrum.

Utah State led by 17 with just over five minutes left before needing a defensive stop and a free throw by Sean Harris in the final seconds to secure the win.David Collette scored 15 of his 18 points in the second half and Chris Smith added 15 as the Utah State improved its record to 5-4.

The Roadrunners fell to 1-9 despite Aly Ahmed's 14 points and nine more by Tyrell Corbin, a graduate of West High in Salt Lake City and the son of forner Utah Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin.

As it has most of the season, Utah State started slowly against CSU Bakersfield.

The Aggies converted only one of their first six possessions and fell behind, 6-3. They countered with a 7-0 mini-run to grab a 12-8 lead before a going cold again.

Utah State failed to score over the next 7½minutes. It did not make a field goal for almost 10 minutes.

Fortunately for the Aggies, Cal State Bakersfield struggled on offense just as badly and Utah State was able to grab a 20-18 halftime lead on a late jumper by Smith and three-point shot by Jalen Moore.

At the half, the Aggies had missed 16 of their 22 field-goal attempts and been out-rebounded, 23-13.

Still, they owned the lead thanks to Smith's eight points, Moore's seven and a defense which limited the Roadrunners to 26.9 percent shooting. Ahmed, who averages 17 points a game for Bakersfield, managed only two on 1-for-3 shooting.

Early in the second half, however, the game suddenly changed. Collette scored two baskets in the opening minute. Then, after another three-pointer by Moore, he blocked a jump shot and never broke stride. Collette took a long lead pass and dunked, capping an 11-2 run that gave the Aggies a 31-20 lead with 16:31 remaining.

Utah State gradually built a 17-point lead with 5:12 left before holding off a furious rally by the Roadrunners, who got as close as one with three-tenths of a second left on Corbin's three-point shot.

Going into the tournament opener, Utah State coach Stew Morrill expected a challenge from the Roadrunners, who had lost their previous four games by a total of 11 points.

CSU Bakersfield also dropped its season opener to High Point, 100-99, in four overtimes.

"If you ... don't explore their scores a little bit, you are really missing the boat," Morrill said. "They've lost multiple close games. We've watched them on film and they have good personnel. They are capable. They play hard and they are very good defensively."

Morrill was also concerned about guard Darius Perkins, the Aggies' third-leading scorer. Early in the week, Perkins suffered a laceration and chipped tooth when he collided with a teammate during practice.

"He got clobbered," Morrill said. "... It was just a run-in situation. Nobody would have imagined he'd come up bleeding from the eye and have a chipped tooth. It was kind of a weird deal."

Perkins finished with three points. —

Storylines

R David Collette scores 15 of his 18 points in the second half.

• Chris Smith contributes 15 points and Jalen Moore adds 12.