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Logan • Veteran Utah State coach Stew Morrill is likely to remember his final regular-season home game for the wrong reasons.

Morrill, who is retiring, watched the Aggies outplay Colorado State most of the way on Saturday night at the Spectrum.

Down the stretch, however, the Rams took advantage of Utah State mistakes and rallied for a 75-70 victory that spoiled what had been a rousing party.

Colorado State improved to 26-5 overall and 13-5 in the Mountain West Conference. The Rams will be the No. 3 seed in the upcoming conference tournament.

Losing its second straight game, Utah State slipped to 18-12 and 11-7. The Aggies will play Wyoming in the Nos. 4-5 game in the tournament on Thursday.

For Morrill, the night started with a pregame ceremony that honored a coach who has won 402 games in 17 seasons.

Then, it was back to work.

"Once the game started," Morrill said, "I was O.K. Once the game starts, that's where your attention goes. I appreciated the fans coming out and all of that. It was very, very nice. I wish we could have given them a win in return. … It's an emotional thing but then the game starts and away you go."

Morrill liked what he saw in the first 32 minutes.

The Aggies led by as many as seven points in the first half before settling for a 33-32 advantage at intermission.

In the second half, Jalen Moore's 3-pointer with 15:15 remaining pushed Utah State's lead to 45-36. The Rams responded with eight straight points to stay in the game, but they didn't get the lead until Gian Clavell's two free throws made it 67-65 with 1:14 left.

By that time, Utah State center David Collette had fouled out. He played a total of 19 minutes, including six in the second half.

"… We had no inside presence," Morrill said.

After falling behind, however, the Aggies quickly regained the lead when Darius Perkins buried a 3-pointer with 1:02 left.

Colorado State countered on Avila's lay-up before a blocked shot led to a run-out by the Rams' Stanton Kidd.

Trailing 71-68, Moore kept the Aggies alive with a rebound basket with 15.7 seconds remaining. They quickly fouled CSU's John Gillon, whose two free throws pushed the Rams' lead back to three.

Utah State's final chance ended when Perkins threw the ball away, resulting in clinching free throws by Clavell with 4.3 seconds on the clock.

"They just played smarter than us," Morrill said. "We had some dumb plays down the stretch. I mean, it was a comedy of errors."

Utah State's biggest mistakes?

With the Aggies in front 67-65, Jojo McGlaston missed a forced a 3-pointer with two minutes left.

After Colorado State tied the score, Sean Harris fouled Clavell on a rebound, resulting in go-ahead free throws.

"We were in position to win the game," Morrill said. "But we played unintelligent basketball. That was the difference."

Smith, who scored 24 points to lead Utah State, agreed.

"We wanted to send [Morrill] off on a good note, but we just couldn't get it done at the end," he said. "… We just need to play smarter. We did dumb thing at the end." —

Storylines

R J.J. Avila scores 29 points to lead CSU.

• The Ags slip to 18-12 and 11-7 in the Mountain West.

• USU will play Wyoming in the first round of the MWC tournament on Thursday.