This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Logan • Jalen Moore put Utah State on his back in the first half, but the difference came when San Diego State's defense was all over his back in the second half.

Moore finished with 20 points, but Aztec guards Trey Kell (21 points) and Jeremy Hemsley (13 points) teamed up to lead their team to 66-62 victory against the Aggies in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum with key plays down the stretch Wednesday.

SDSU (15-10, 7-6 Mountain West) improved to 9-0 against the Aggies (11-14, 5-9) since both have been members of the Mountain West Conference.

"I thought their guards played with a lot of poise, played with a lot of mental toughness on the road, continued to run their team, and just did a really good job," Aggies head coach Tim Duryea said. "Our guys got sped up a little bit, our guards, and made some uncharacteristic plays for them."

The Aggies' freshmen backcourt duo of Koby McEwen (13 points) and Sam Merrill (12 points) will have to chalk this one up as a learning experience. While they combined for 25 points, they also combined for seven turnovers and weren't as efficient shooting (7 of 23) as in past performances.

"They're an aggressive team, defensively, probably the most aggressive in the conference," Merrill said. "Definitely, that's something that you have to get use to. We knew that's how it was going to be coming in. We practiced, worked on that, and just didn't execute."

The Aggies' first lead came on a pair of Merrill free throws with 16:15 remaining in the second half, but when SDSU had to have points, their all-conference combination of Kell and Hemsley swung the game.

The backcourt duo combined for a 10-0 run as SDSU went up 57-45 with 6:38 remaining. Kell, who hit two 3-pointers during that stretch, scored 15 points in the second half.

"We shot bad shots, turned the ball over," Moore said. "Coach had to call a timeout, settle us down a little bit. It was still a three-possession game and we were playing like we were down by more."

The Aggies climbed within 63-59 with 59 seconds left. Kell missed a tough shot over Merrill to give possession to the Aggies, but McEwen misfired on a deep 3-pointer from almost on the Aggies bench with 21 seconds left.

Then with the Aggies within 65-62 with eight seconds left, Hemsley made a free throw to make it a two-possession game.

"I thought the second half, we were about as poor as you can be offensively for a half," Duryea said.

The Aggies trailed early 20-9 as four turnovers in the first five minutes kept them from getting into an offensive rhythm before USU climbed within 23-20 on a pull-up jumper by Moore from the top of the key.

The score was 29-28 Aztec after Quinn Taylor grabbed an offensive rebound and kicked out to Moore for a 3-pointer from the wing, as the shot bounced off seemingly every part of the rim before rolling in with 1:16 left in the half. But Utah State couldn't get over the hump before halftime and trailed 32-29 at the break.

Moore scored 14 first-half points. McEwen, averaging 16.6 points per game during conference play, went without a field goal in the opening frame.

Twitter: @LWorthySports —

Storylines

R San Diego State guard Trey Kell scored 15 second-half points to lead his team to victory.

• Utah State wing Jalen Moore scored 20 points, including 14 first-half points on 6-for-6 shooting.

• Utah State falls three games under .500 with four games left in the regular season before the Mountain West Conference tournament in Las Vegas.