Utah State basketball: Aggies down NM State, cuts down nets

LOGAN — Utah State was going to cut down the nets in the Spectrum regardless of the outcome of Saturday night's regular season finale with New Mexico State.

Breaking out the scissors following a rousing 81-63 win over NMSU, however, sure felt a lot better than it would have had the almost-meaningless game ended in a loss instead of a win.

"We wanted this to be a celebration," USU forward Tai Wesley said. "We didn't want to cut the nets down with a loss."

Wesley made sure that didn't happen as the Aggies (25-6 overall, 14-2 in the WAC) won their 15th consecutive game and blew open what had been a tight contest for the first 22 minutes with a dominating second half that removed any doubt about who the Western Athletic Conference champions were.

"I told the players when you have a target on your back by being picked to win the league and you start out 0-2," Aggie coach Stew Morrill said, "they can feel awfully good about a tremendous accomplishment. Wining 14 games in a row ... that is just a special, special thing."

Considering how the students rushed the court - much like they did during last season's net-cutting celebration -- it must have felt pretty special to the sellout crowd of 10,270 that rocked the Spectrum from the opening tip.

"Going from 0-2 in the conference to winning the conference outright (by three games), that's awesome," Wesley said.

New Mexico State wanted very much to spoil not only the WAC title celebration, but the final home game for USU senior Jared Quayle.

The southern Aggies (19-11, 11-5) came out focused, energized by the crowd and ready to slug it out.

And with USU missing a load of shots to open the game, NMSU jumped out to a 7-0 lead showing that despite not having a chance to win a regular season title, it would not play a gracious victim to the Aggies.

"We knew it was going to be a tough game," Quayle said while being mobbed by family and friends on the court after the game. "They are a very good team and we knew it was going to be a battle."

But after Utah State took punch after punch for 29 minutes, the Aggies had the knockout blow ready to unload.

Leading 36-30 at the half, Utah State traded baskets and bodyblows for a few more minutes before absolutely owning the final 11 minutes of the game.