Sad ending for Ags

LOGAN — At least nightmares come to an end sooner or later, but the pains of reality linger for a lifetime.

Welcome to reality, No. 25 Utah State.

The Aggie nightmare that began six days ago came to a frustrating end Wednesday with an 85-74 loss to Hawaii in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament.

The week-long disappointment began for the Aggies last Friday a one-point loss to CS Northridge in the semifinals of the Big West Conference tournament. It continued Sunday when the Aggies were left out of the NCAA Tournament.

Adding insult to injury, the Aggies remained in the Top of both national polls on Monday.

Wednesday, Michael Kuebler scored a game-high 28 points and the Warriors shot 61.8 percent from the field their second-highest total this year - in snapping Utah States 17-game home winning streak.

"Im not going to use that (the NCAA snub) as an excuse," Utah State coach Stew Morrill said. "We got our butts beat. Thats what happened. They played better than we did."

Spencer Nelson scored a career-high 24 points and pulled down 11 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the year to lead the Aggies.

"Id take two points and a victory," Nelson said.

The Aggies, however, wont let the disappointments of the last six days throw a damper on a season in which they won 25 games, shared the Big West Conference title, and were ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time in 33 years.

"We had a very special year, but we didnt finish very well," Morrill said.

Nelson concurred.

"It was a great year with a lot of positives with a disappointing end," Nelson said. "We didnt accomplish our goals in my mind. We didnt win the Big West Conference tournament and we didnt get into the NCAA tournament."

For the next six months the Aggies will face questions if the NCAA Committee was justified in leaving them out of the Big Dance.

"My belief is we should have been in the NCAA Tournament, plain and simple" Nelson said. "We didnt prove that tonight so the nation and whomever wants to has the right to say we didnt deserve it. Im not going to argue with them."