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Logan • In October and November, when Utah State struggled to win exhibition games against Texas A&M International and Arkansas-Fort Smith, nobody could have predicted where the Aggies find themselves.

After Tuesday night's runaway 83-65 victory over UNLV, Utah State is 17-10 overall and 10-5 in the Mountain West Conference.

Chris Smith scored 20 points and the Aggies used runs of 12-2 and 17-2 in the second half to move within two games of league-leading San Diego State.

Significantly, Utah State clinched a top-six finish in the Mountain West and a first-round bye in the upcoming conference tournament.

"We're playing pretty confidently right now," coach Stew Morrill said. "It's good stuff for us."

Against UNLV, the Aggies rallied from a 38-35 halftime deficit for only their fourth win in 31 tries in the all-time series. David Collette and Darius Perkins added 17 points each for USU. Jalen Moore finished with 16.

"We defended much better in the second half," Morrill said. "In fairness to them, I thought they got a little worn down. But I'd like to think we were part of that. …

"The first half, we were playing really good offense but were behind because we couldn't get stops. They made a lot of shots, but I didn't think we were near active enough defensively."

UNLV certainly started quickly. After two misses, the Rebels made five straight shots, including 3-pointers by Jelan Kendrick and Cody Doolin. They took a 12-9 lead.

It was was 26-25 with 5:55 remaining when UNLV scored seven straight points. The Rebels seemed on the verge of taking control, but Smith and Moore buried 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to keep the Aggies close.

Another 3-pointer — this one by Jojo McGlaston — made it 35-35 with 1:09 to play, but UNLV's Christian Wood countered with a late three to give the Rebels their lead at halftime.

In the second half, Utah State rolled to a 55-44 lead with 12 minutes to play. UNLV countered with nine straight points to get within two, but the Aggies broke away again after back-to-back baskets by Collete.

The second one followed a perfect pass in transition from Henry Bolton and resulted in a monstrous dunk.

"That was a dime," Collette said. "That's all I can say. That was a dime. A great pass by Henry. I probably taught him that with my passing skills. … That was a very easy pass [to convert]."

Down the stretch, Moore refused to let UNLV back in the game. His corner 3-pointer with 3:51 left made it 75-57 and, one minute later, his layup pushed Utah State in front, 77-62.

In the second half, the Aggies shot 58.6 percent during a 48-point explosion, including 6-for-8 from the three-point line.

Referring to Utah State's total of 24 assists that resulted in 31 field goals, Morrill said, "We're sharing the ball right now. … We've worked really hard and driving-and-kicking. We've work hard on what we call the good-to-great pass. You've got a good shot but, if you make one more, your teammate has a great shot. And we've gotten better at that." —

Storylines

R Chris Smith scores 20 points as Utah State extends its winning streak to five.

• Down 38-35 at halftime, the hot-shooting Aggies go on runs of 12-2 and 17-2 in second half.

• Utah State improves to 10-5 in Mountain West and 17-10 overall.