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Springfield, Mo. • Utah State junior college transfer Shane Rector made his first start for the Aggies on Tuesday night.
He also finished off Missouri State.
Rector buried two free throws with 3.3 seconds remaining to cap a furious rally and give Utah State a 69-68 over the Bears in a Mountain West-Missouri Valley Challenge game at JQH Arena.
Coming off a 33-point loss at Duke on Sunday, Aggie coach Tim Duryea shuffled his lineup. He started Rector, a point guard out of Miami Dade College, and brought sophomore Julion Pearre off the bench.
Junior forward Jalen Moore finished with a season-high 20 points to lead the Aggies (5-1), who made 10 of 23 shots from the 3-point line. Darius Perkins and Rector contributed 12 points each — both season-highs.
Utah State started slowly, missed five of its first six shots and fell behind, 8-3, in the opening minutes.
The Aggies fought back, however, and built a 29-24 lead with 2:13 left in the half on back-to-back jumpers by Rector and Moore.
Utah State owned a 42-41 lead early in the second half. But after Missouri State scored 10 straight points, the Aggies found themselves trailing, 51-42, with 12 minutes remaining.
A 7-0 run got Utah State back into the game and redshirt freshman Quinn Taylor's basket with 1:42 left lifted the Aggies into a 67-67 tie.
Missouri State's Chris Kendrix made one of two free throws with 1:08 to play to give the Bears a one-point lead. Rector was then fouled by Dorrian Williams. He made the tying and go-ahead free throws and improved to 4-for-4 from the foul line with less than a minute left in all games this season. —
Utah State 69, Missouri State 68
UTAH ST. (5-1)
Perkins 4-8 0-0 12, Rector 5-9 2-2 12, Evans 3-8 1-2 7, J. Moore 7-18 4-6 20, Smith 3-8 0-0 8, Pearre 1-5 0-1 3, Taylor 2-2 2-2 7, G. Moore 0-0 0-0 0, Jones 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-58 9-13 69.
MISSOURI ST. (1-5)
Miller 1-6 0-2 3, Church 7-8 0-0 14, Williams 5-10 0-0 12, Boone 3-9 3-4 9, Kendrix 5-9 5-7 17, Gerring 1-1 1-1 3, Dixon 0-1 0-0 0, Kreklow 3-7 2-4 10, Martin 0-1 0-0 0, McCullough 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-52 11-18 68.
Halftime: Utah St. 32-31. 3-Point Goals: Utah St. 10-23 (Perkins 4-7, J. Moore 2-5, Smith 2-5, Taylor 1-1, Pearre 1-2, Evans 0-1, Rector 0-2), Missouri St. 7-17 (Williams 2-3, Kendrix 2-4, Kreklow 2-5, Miller 1-4, Dixon 0-1). Fouled Out: None. Rebounds: Utah St. 31 (Evans 11), Missouri St. 33 (Boone 10). Assists: Utah St. 13 (Rector 6), Missouri St. 18 (Williams 5). Total Fouls: Utah St. 17, Missouri St. 20. A: 3,694.