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Logan • Aggies senior wing Jalen Moore bounced back from two shaky shooting performances on the road with his second-highest scoring performance of the season on Saturday night to guide his team to victory.

Whether Moore's teammates fed off him or the home crowd of 7,027 in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, where they improved to 9-4 this season, scoring became contagious for Utah State. Five players scored in double figures — the third time this season that's happened — and USU (11-13, 5-8 Mountain West) avenged an earlier loss against Wyoming, 81-74, in a MWC matchup.

Moore, who had gone 5-for-25 in his previous two games, scored a game-high 23 points and moved into 12th place on the school's all-time scoring list (1,507 points). He also became the 10th player in program history with at least 1,500 points and 600 rebounds.

Aggies head coach Tim Duryea lauded Moore for not only his play, but for lifting up teammates and keeping them focused.

"In terms of leadership, [that was] maybe his best game as an Aggie," Duryea said of Moore. "In terms of what he was doing for us, obviously, scoring buckets and making plays, but I thought he did a great job keeping us together, holding us together out there as a group."

Sophomore forward Quinn Taylor scored a season-high 14 points to go along with seven rebounds, while Alex Dargenton came up just shy of a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds. Taylor and Dargenton spearheaded the Aggies onslaught on the glass.

Freshmen guards Sam Merrill (13 points) and Koby McEwen (12 points, five assists, six turnovers) rounded out the scoring. They also combined to go 6-for-6 from the free throw line in the final three minutes, 25 seconds as the Aggies closed the victory.

The Aggies led the contest, which featured 16 lead changes, 70-68 when Moore hit a baseline jumper to give the Aggies a four-point edge with 3:59 left. McEwen sandwiched four throws around a reverse layup by Wyoming's Jeremy Lieberman (11 points) to make it 76-70 with 1:57 remaining.

Wyoming pushed back within 76-73 after a free throw by Hayden Dalton (nine points), an Aggies turnover and a layup by Justin James (nine points).

On the Aggies' ensuing possession, Merrill penetrated and kicked it out to Moore for a 3-pointer that made the Spectrum erupt.

"It sealed the game for us," Dargenton said. "We needed a shot like that, and Jalen stepped up and hit the big 3."

Merrill added two more free throws to put the game away, and Lieberman added a free throw with 14 seconds left to close the scoring.

Moore, who'd scored a total of 14 points in his past two games, scored 13 first-half points on 4 of 8 shooting, including draining 2 of 3 from behind the 3-point line.

"Any great offensive player is going to go through slumps, but really great ones are quick to forget and move on to the next game," Taylor said of Moore. "He's a great player so he just put it behind him and knew what his role is — to come out and have a big game. That's what he did."

Saturday, Wyoming (16-10, 6-7 MWC) coming off Wednesday night's four-overtime win against Fresno State, made 7 of its first 9 3-pointers in the first half.

The Aggies took a 43-42 lead into halftime after both teams shot 50 percent in the opening frame. Neither team led by more than six points until the final minute of the game. —

Storylines

R Jalen Moore scores more than 20 points for the seventh time this season.

• Utah State out-rebounds Wyoming 41-26