Huber leads Aggies past Mustangs

LOGAN — Utah State guard Chris Huber is finally having fun, and it is showing in his play.

The junior point guard limped through his first 12 games with an ankle injury suffered in the preseason, but he had a breakthrough week in leading the Aggies to a pair of Big West Conference victories, the latest coming over Cal Poly, 76-65, Saturday night.

"I'm happy," he said after coming off the bench to score a career-high 14 points in the Aggies' 11-point victory. "Practices are more fun. Games are more fun. I'm enjoying myself out there."

One month ago he couldn't say that.

"I knew what I could do, and I wasn't able to do it," said Huber, who graduated from nearby Bear River High School. "In my mind I knew where I needed to be and knew what I needed to do."

Saturday night, Huber was near perfect in hitting 4-of-5 from the 3-point line and 2-of-2 from the foul line while playing a career-high 28 minutes.

On Thursday, in the Aggies' 80-70 victory over Santa Barbara, he hit 2-of-4 shots and went 3-of-4 from the foul line in scoring his previous season-high, nine, in 20 minutes.

He also had five assists in each game.

"He's started to play very solid," Utah State coach Stew Morrill said of Huber. "The dilemma is you have a guy coming off the bench and playing solid. In terms of his play he deserves to start. In terms of what's best for the team, that's what you need to ask yourself."

Huber doesn't mind when he plays, he's just happy to be a contributor.

"I don't care if I'm starting or finishing, whatever," he said, "I just want to have fun playing."

With the victory, the Aggies improve to 11-3 overall and 2-1 in conference play. They will play six of their next eight on the road, beginning next Thursday at Pacific.

The Aggies enter the game with the Tigers on a four-game winning streak, but they still have room for improvement.

"We are playing in spurts right now," Morrill said. "We need to be a little more consistant. We had some good moments out there (Saturday), and then we had some not so good moments. We just did what we had to to get a win."

Huber was one of five Aggies to score in double figures Saturday night. Nate Harris and Jaycee Carroll paced the Aggies with 16 points each, while Huber and Cass Matheus had 14 and Spencer Nelson added 10.