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Logan • Everyone talks about setting a tone on the first possession, but rarely, if ever, do things fall perfectly into place as they did for the Aggies on Saturday night.

The Utah State men's basketball team sent off its seniors with a raucous celebration that included 10 players scoring at least two points, all three seniors registering at least six points and a no-doubt-about-it 89-58 rout over Air Force in a Mountain West Conference clash in the final home game of the season at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.

Senior forward Jalen Moore led all scorers with 24 points, while his classmates Shane Rector (six points, five assists, one steal) and Connor Garner (nine points) helped spark the fire for the Aggies (13-15, 7-10 MWC), who have won back-to-back conference games and finished the season 10-5 at home.

"Man, it was that Spectrum magic baby," Rector said of the Aggies' performance. "Everybody was going to night Once we put our foot on the pedal, we didn't take it off."

Garner, who has spent part of his career as a manager as well as on the scout team as a practice player for the Aggies, came into the night with three career points. He made three 3-pointers in his first career start.

"I could not be happier for Connor Garner," Aggies head coach Tim Duryea said. "Good things happen to good people, and they don't come much better than Connor. Our whole locker room was just elated for him."

Air Force (11-18, 4-12) beat the Aggies 78-73 on their court on Dec. 31. This time, the Aggies shot 59.6 percent from the floor, made more than half their 3-pointers (13-for-25) and their freshmen guards Koby McEwen (eight points, six assists) and Sam Merrill (12 points, nine assists) combined for 15 assists and just two turnovers (Merrill did not commit a turnover). Their 89 points are their most during conference play this season.

Defensively, the Aggies held Air Force to 40 percent shooting. Air Force didn't score for the first four minutes, 48 seconds of the game. That includes a shot clock violation of its first possession, a moment Duryea and Moore pointed to as a tone-setter.

"That was like this is going to be a fun night," Moore said. "We're playing hard on defense. We don't get many shot clock violations. That's a tough thing to do at this level. I was like, 'We're clicking tonight. We're playing good defense.' When we play good defense our offense comes with us."

The Aggies, buoyed by their first road win in conference play earlier this week and inspired to send their three seniors out on a high note for their final game in front of the home crowd, put together one of their most high-powered offensive halves of the season with 46 points on 61 percent shooting.

They jumped out to a 14-5 lead and Air Force didn't pull closer than seven points for the rest of the half. Moore's 3-pointer with 7:40 remaining gave the Aggies a 15-point lead, 33-18, and that lead reached 20 points on a Moore layup with 1:27 remaining before halftime.

Sophomore forward Quinn Taylor scored 13 first-half points after having scored a total of 12 points in his previous three games, and the Aggies took that 46-26 lead into the break.

In the opening minutes of the second half, the Aggies eliminated any thought that they'd cooled off at halftime.

Merrill drained a 3-pointer from the wing, then made a steal while falling out of bounds. Before almost crashing into a cheerleader, he flipped the ball behind his back to McEwen to start a break. McEwen wrapped a bounce pass around a defender to Alexis Dargenton, and Dargenton threw down a dunk that sent the crown into a frenzy and forced Air Force to take a timeout down 53-28 with 18:28 left.

lworthy@sltrib.com Twitter: @LWorthySports —

Storylines

R The Aggies routed Air Force by 31 points, 89-58, in the final regular-season home game in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on Saturday night to record back-to-back Mountain West wins.

• All three seniors recognized on Senior Night, Connor Garner, Shane Rector and Jalen Moore, scored at least six points in the win.

• Freshman guard Sam Merrill had one of his most-efficient offensive games of the seasons. He registered 12 points on 4-for-6 shooting and also dished out nine assists with out a turnover.

Utah State 89, Air Force 58

AIR FORCE (11-18)

Graham 8-11 2-3 21, Manning 0-3 0-0 0, Toohey 4-6 0-0 9, Kocur 0-2 0-0 0, Tomes 1-3 0-0 3, Swan 2-3 0-0 4, DeWane 0-3 0-0 0, Culp 0-0 0-0 0, Scottie 3-5 4-5 10, Morris 0-3 0-0 0, Louder 0-4 2-4 2, Siples 0-2 0-0 0, Van 1-2 0-0 3, Brown 1-1 0-3 2, Lyons 2-6 0-2 4. Totals 22-54 8-17 58.

UTAH ST. (13-15)

Janicek 3-7 0-1 6, Moore 8-12 3-4 24, Rector 3-6 0-0 6, Merrill 4-6 2-2 12, Garner 3-5 0-0 9, Barnaba 0-0 0-0 0, Dargenton 2-2 2-2 6, Taylor 6-10 1-1 13, McEwen 3-6 0-0 8, Pearre 1-2 0-0 3, Brito 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 34-57 8-10 89.

Halftime—Utah St. 46-26. 3-Point Goals—Air Force 6-21 (Graham 3-4, Toohey 1-1, Van 1-2, Tomes 1-3, Kocur 0-1, Swan 0-1, Manning 0-1, Lyons 0-1, DeWane 0-2, Scottie 0-2, Morris 0-3), Utah St. 13-25 (Moore 5-7, Garner 3-5, Merrill 2-4, McEwen 2-4, Pearre 1-2, Rector 0-3). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Air Force 26 (Graham 6), Utah St. 32 (McEwen 8). Assists—Air Force 11 (Van 3), Utah St. 27 (Merrill 9). Total Fouls—Air Force 15, Utah St. 18. A—8,015 (10,270).

MWC standings

Conference Overall

W L W L

Nevada 12 4 23 6

Colorado St. 12 4 20 9

Boise St. 11 5 18 9

Fresno St. 9 7 17 11

New Mexico 9 8 16 13

San Diego St. 8 8 16 12

Wyoming 7 9 17 12

San Jose St. 7 9 14 13

Utah St. 7 10 13 15

Air Force 4 12 11 18

UNLV 3 13 10 19

Saturday's games

Boise St. 85, San Jose St. 78

Nevada 94, UNLV 58

Wyoming 82, New Mexico 71

Colorado St. 56, San Diego St. 55

Utah St., 89, Air Force 58