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Logan • Utah State coach Tim Duryea knew something had to change.
Heading into Tuesday night's game against New Mexico, the Aggies had lost five in a row and, along the way, they struggled defensively and on the glass.
"New Mexico is a hard team to guard," Duryea said "They give you a lot of problems. But I thought we just can't go down the same road over and over. We can't shoot 55 percent and lose because we can't stop anybody and can't get enough rebounds."
Hoping to reverse the trend, Duryea started redshirt freshman Quinn Taylor at center. He moved Lew Evans to power forward, Jalen Moore to small forward and Chris Smith to shooting guard. Instead of starting, Elston Jones and Julion Pearre came off the bench.
Bingo.
In one of its best all-around performances of the season, Utah State led for the final 27 minutes and rolled to an 80-72 victory over the Lobos in front of 9,290 fans at the Spectrum.
"We made some winning plays down the stretch on both ends," Duryea said. "We were active. We blocked some shots and we got some offensive rebounds — stats that tell you your team is locked in and competitive and has the right mindset. ... Minutes were a little different. Roles were a little different. But I thought everybody responded positively. I didn't see any long faces. I didn't see any pouting. I saw everybody playing for each other and it paid off."
Playing almost exclusively in the backcourt for the first time this season, Smith scored a team-high 19 points.
"Finally, hopefully, we figured out what we need to do to close out games," he said. "… We went a little bigger tonight. It helped our rebounding situation and our match-up situation with them."
Only two games after not playing in a 70-67 loss at Boise State, Taylor started for the fifth time in his college career. He contributed eight points and 10 rebounds in 25 minutes.
"I thought Quinn Taylor was phenomenal," Duryea said. "He led the charge rebounding the ball."
Utah State built a 40-32 lead at halftime. But New Mexico opened the second half with six straight points, forcing to Duryea to call an uncharacteristically quick timeout.
"I told the [assistant] coaches at halftime, 'You are going to see the quickest trigger ever if we don't get off to a good start,'" Duryea said.
Utah State responded with a 12-4 run to regain momentum.
"We all said, 'We can't let this happen, especially in front of our fans. We have to win tonight,'" Smith said. "… We bought into what coach was saying and brought home the win.'"
Duryea credited senior point guard Darius Perkins for taking control during the timeout: "I'll give [him] a lot of credit. … He talked to everybody in the huddle and said, 'That isn't going to happen. This streak stops right here.' He provided a lot of internal leadership, which our guys responded to. So I'll give him a lot of credit for that."
With the win, Utah State improved to 12-11 overall and 4-8 in the Mountain West Conference. The Aggies kept alive their hope of a top-five finish in the final league standings, which would translate into a first-round bye at the conference tournament in March.
Utah State doesn't play again until Feb. 17 against Colorado State.
"In the 15 years I've been in this program, we've always had two goals: stay together and win the next game," Duryea said. "That won't change. Our next goal is to win our next game.
"We were talking and kind of wish we didn't have a bye. We'd like to play Saturday and keep it rolling, But the schedule is what it is and we'll manage it. We'll fit in some recruiting and be ready to go next Wednesday."
As far as his new starting lineup is concerned, Duryea suggested Aggie Nation get used to it.
"We decided, as a staff, to get as big as we could," he said. " … We're going to stay on this path for awhile and see where it takes us."
Twitter: @sluhm —
Storylines
• Utah State breaks a five-game losing streak, with the help of a new and bigger starting lineup.
• Chris Smith scores 19 points to lead the Aggies to an 80-72 victory over New Mexico.
• Utah State does not play again until next Wednesday, when it faces Colorado State.