Utah State basketball: Aggies fall just short vs. Marquette in NCAA tourney

BOISE — Utah State had Marquette exactly where the Aggies wanted the Golden Eagles.

USU held a 6-point lead and there was just 4:41 left in the game after the Aggies had seized control of momentum in the game with a 23-6 run in the second half that had all those crossing their fingers for an upset on the edge of their seat.

That upset, however, was not to be.

Marquette, a senior-laden team with lightning quick guards and an attitude forged by a season of bruising battles in the Big East Conference, reversed the momentum and snuck out of Boise's Taco Bell Arena with a 58-57 win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

"We gave ourself a chance," Utah State coach Stew Morrill said. "We got up six and we missed some open shots, we turned it over, we don't rebound a ball — all of those kinds of things that can happen to you. But we battled back in the second half and really gave ourselves a chance to win."

It was a chance a lot of people around the country also gave the 30-5 Aggies.

The Western Athletic Conference champions were a popular upset pick in a lot of brackets and nearly gave Morrill his second NCAA Tournament win in six trips to the big dance with the Aggies.

Rather than completing the comeback — Utah State trailed by as many as 14 in the first half and 11 after Marquette's Maurice Acker hit a 3-pointer to start the second half — the Aggies had their hopes crushed as the Golden Eagles earned trip after trip to the free throw line and sent two of USU's first three offensive options to the bench with five fouls down the stretch.

"It was the first time I fouled out all year long," Aggie point guard Jared Quayle said.

"Sitting on the bench and watching the game," he said, "it was hard because I wanted to be out there and I wanted to be bringing the ball up the court and having that opportunity to win the game . . . It was difficult."

Quayle — who led Utah State with 18 points, eight rebounds and four assists — had done just that through the second half. His 3-pointer from the right wing with 5:20 to play gave the Aggies their first lead of the game and he assisted on a Tyler Newbold 3-pointer the next trip down the court with 4:41 to play.

But a momentum-stemming timeout, a missed Utah State jumper and a turnover allowed the Golden Eagles to reclaim control of the game.