Reno, Nev. » In winning 17 consecutive games, including two blowout victories in the first two rounds of the Western Athletic Conference tournament, Utah State performed like it had since the beginning of the conference season.
The Aggies spread the ball around. They played lockdown defense. They made shots at a devastating clip.
On Saturday night, USU picked the wrong time to play a very un-Utah State like game. In losing 69-63 to New Mexico State in the tournament's title game, the Aggie defense came up empty at key times.
In losing to NMSU for the second time this season, Utah State picked the wrong time to lack the scoring balance needed for a win. And in losing out on an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, the Aggies picked the wrong time to go cold from the field.
"New Mexico State made shots and we didn't," USU coach Stew Morrill said. "They made the basketball plays needed, they had a good game plan and they did a good job defensively. We knew that we were in for a tough game."
Offensively, Pooh Williams, Brian Green and Tyler Newbold went a collective 3-for-16 from the field, with Green going 3-for-10 and just 1-for- from three-point range. While Jared Quayle scored a game-high 25 points, Nate Bendall scored 16 points and Tai Wesley coming up with 13 points, it seems as if points came from a number of sources.
The Utah State offense this season, however, has worked best when all five starters, plus Green and Brady Jardine off the bench, have contributed offensively. On Saturday night, that just didn't happen and as a result, with shots not falling from the perimeter, New Mexico State was able to collapse on Bendall and Wesley in the paint.
That contributed to nine turnovers and just 14 assists. That made Quayle do more than he's needed to do offensively since early in the season. That also made Utah State much easier to guard.
"We came into this game prepared to do what we had to do in order to win this game," New Mexico State coach Marvin Menzies said. "My guys were passionate today about what they needed to do. They had confidence and they went out and got it done."
