This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Boise • Utah State led most of the way at Boise State on Tuesday night.

It didn't matter.

In the final moments at Taco Bell Arena, the Aggies' offense came to a screeching halt and the Broncos escaped with a 70-67 Mountain West Conference victory.

Chris Smith scored 20 points for Utah State, which led by 11 with 10 minutes left. His 3-pointer with 2:38 left gave the Aggies a 67-63 lead, but they didn't score again.

Down four, Boise State's James Webb III converted an offensive rebound into a basket before Utah State committed one of 17 turnovers with a shot clock violation. Lonnie Jackson had a 3-pointer to give Boise its first lead, 68-67, with 1:30 remaining.

Utah State's next possession ended when Shane Rector misfired on a jumper. Webb made one of two free throws to make it 69-67 before the Aggies missed two chances to tie or regain the lead.

With 43 seconds remaining, Lew Evans was fouled but missed the front end of a 1-and-1.

Utah State got the defense stop it needed, however, when Boise failed to get off a shot with 14 seconds left. But Rector missed and Jackson sealed the deal with a free throw with one second remaining.

"Toughest loss of the year," said coach Tim Duryea. "We did so many things so well [but] just aren't a tough group. … We can flow along for awhile but then the other team has a [good] stretch and we have a hard time righting the ship."

The Aggies started quickly against Boise State, which snapped a two-game losing streak. Julion Pearre scored five points while Smith and Jalen Moore added four as Utah State built a 19-12 lead.

It was 24-14 when Boise State found some rhythm.

Anthony Drmic, who was scoreless during the Broncos' 76-61 win at the Spectrum on Jan. 5, triggered a 7-0 run with a jumper. He followed with an assist on Nick Duncan's 3-pointer and a steal that led to two free throws by Paris Austin.

With their lead down to 24-21, however, Utah State regained momentum.

Smith scored eight points in the final 3:58. His three with 1:31 left made it 38-25, although the Aggies settled for a 38-28 halftime advantage.

At the half, Smith had 11 points and Rector scored eight. Webb and Drmic each scored seven points for the Broncos, who committed 12 turnovers and missed 12 of their 15 shots from the three-point line.

In the second half, Utah State survived an early 16-3 run by the Broncos and took a 58-47 lead on back-to-back 3-pointers by Pearre and Evans. But Boise followed with eight straight points over a 4 1/2-minute stretch to get back in the game.

Twitter: @sluhm