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Logan • After losing a game it probably should have won, Utah State got a little defensive Tuesday night at the Spectrum.

The result?

The Aggies neutralized Wyoming, mostly with a suffocating zone, and rolled to a 56-44 victory that moved them within one game of first place in the Mountain West Conference.

Utah State is 12-8 overall and 5-3 in the league. Wyoming dropped to 17-4 and 6-2.

Offensively, David Collette scored 16 points for the Aggies, who squandered late leads in regulation and overtime during Saturday night's 79-77 loss at UNLV.

Collette's reach-in foul on an offensive rebound attempt with less than two seconds remaining enabled the Rebels to beat Utah State, but he was outstanding against Wyoming.

"We needed that from him," coach Stew Morrill said. "That was a great response by him."

Defensively, the Aggies dominated the Cowboys, who rarely got uncontested looks and were often forced to the perimeter. Wyoming shot only 36 percent, including 7 for 23 from the 3-point line.

"We were good. We were active. We were getting deflections," Morrill said. "We played quite a bit of zone, obviously, but we mixed in enough man to keep them off guard. … They obviously had a tough shooting night, and, sometimes, shots get harder after you miss some."

Said Collette, who also contributed five rebounds and two blocks, "We take pride on defense. We knew they could hit 3s, but we kept them down."

The Aggies joined SMU, Cal and San Diego State as they teams to defeat Wyoming this season.

"Utah State has a very good team, and they were the better team tonight in about every way they could be," said Cowboys coach Larry Shyatt.

"The most disappointing thing to me was I saw our players do things out of character. I talked about us being consistent this year, and our defense was somewhat consistent. But offensively, we did things that we haven't done this year."

Utah State also outrebounded the athletic Cowboys, 32-28, and limited their second-chance opportunities. It was the second straight game the Aggies grabbed more rebounds than their opponent, but only the fourth time in 20 games.

"We got tired of getting yelled at, so we rebounded," said Utah State wing Chris Smith. "… We've been working on whole-team defense and rebounding."

Utah State outplayed Wyoming from the start, but the Aggies owned a tenuous 29-26 halftime lead after the Cowboys' Riley Grabau hit a 3-pointer from beyond half court as time expired.

No problem.

Utah State opened the second half with nine straight points and built a 38-26 lead. It was 48-41 with three minutes left when the Aggies forced Larry Nance Jr. to miss a tough baseline jumper over an aggressive double team.

After a timeout, Smith buried the clinching 3-pointer.

"We ran our punch play," Morrill said. "… We get the ball to David a lot on that. But we also told them [Smith] would be wide open, and he was. That was a big basket."

Grabau led Wyoming with 16 points. Nance, who scored the Cowboys' first eight, finished with 14. —

Utah State 56, Wyoming 44

R David Collette scores 16 points to lead Utah State.

• The Aggies improve to 12-8 overall and 5-3 in the Mountain West Conference.

• Larry Nance Jr. scores 14 points for Wyoming, including the Cowboys' first eight.