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Boise • David Collette's 3-pointer as time expired gave Utah State a 62-61 win over Boise State on Saturday, but the Aggies' best start of the season was also critical.
Utah State jumped to a 15-6 lead in the opening 51/2 minutes against the Broncos, who rallied but never led by more than two points.
"We had a great week of practice — a lot of energy and a lot of enthusiasm," Collette said. "... We've been starting out bad, and we know it. So we said before the game, 'Let's come out hard and hit them before they even know it.' And we did."
Said coach Stew Morrill: "Other than press-breaking and not being quite tough enough, I really liked how we played. We gave ourselves a chance. We played smart. We played hard. We did what we needed to do on the road to give ourselves a chance."
Morrill praised Boise State's Derrick Marks, who finished with 31 points. He had 19 of the Broncos' 31 points in the first half.
"Marks almost singlehandedly beat us — he played so well — and they turned up the pressure in the second half," Morrill said. "The home crowd got going. A lot of things happened in the second half. But we got a win."
Begic's blunder
The second half opened with Boise State shooting a pair of free throws after a technical foul.
According to Morrill, sophomore center Bilal Begic was called for dunking during warm-ups. Begic is from Bosnia-Herzegovina. He has not played in a game this season.
"We came out, and Bilal dunked," Morrill said. "He said he didn't know the rule, but there's no excuse for that. Nobody else is dunking. [But] he's the happiest camper in the world right now. He got saved on that last shot."
Delay of game
The game nearly started with only two officials because veteran Randy McCall's flight to Boise was delayed Saturday morning.
McCall's plane landed just before noon. He dressed in his officiating clothes on board and was met at the airport by a member of the Bronco basketball staff, who rushed him to Taco Bell Arena.
McCall jogged onto the court and fist-bumped official Mark Whitehead as the teams lined up for the opening jump ball and waited for word from Root Sports to start the game.
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