USU, Utah Utes basketball: Aggies' dry spell proves costly

With 12 minutes and 54 seconds to play, Utah State's Nate Bendall hit an 18-foot jumper from the top of the key to give the Aggies a 47-40 lead.

All was right for Utah State and the crowd of 9,699 at the Huntsman center was mostly quiet.

"We were up seven," Utah State coach Stew Morrill said, "and then we go five minutes without scoring."

And just like that, the Utes put the 'Runnin' back in their name and rattled off an 11-0 rally to take the lead and eventually a 68-67 win.

The USU dry spell, exacerbated by a flurry of Aggie turnovers, left Morrill feeling as if his team had let Utah pick up a win it didn't entirely earn.

"That was a little tough to swallow," Morrill said. "Give them credit, they found a way to win it. But I think we found a way not to win."

The Aggies had five turnovers during their scoreless spell and those minutes proved costly. Even Jared Quayle, USU's typically cool-headed point guard got into the act throwing the ball away trying to create fast break plays when there really wasn't one to be made.

In all, Utah State had 17 turnovers — and the Utes capitalized on those for 22 points.

The Aggies, on the other hand, got just 12 points on possessions created by Utah's 10 turnovers.

"I thought they were unforced errors," Morrill said. "Not all of them, but about five of them."

The lost opportunities offset an otherwise stellar night for Quayle.

The senior from Perry scored a career high 27 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, matching his career best. The preseason all-WAC player made his first five 3-point attempts and helped the Aggies reclaim the lead at 54-53 with his last basket of the game.

But his hot shooting cooled at just the wrong time for the Aggies.

With the Utes clinging to a 67-64 lead, Quayle and the Aggies brought the ball down the floor and set up a play for Tyler Newbold at the top of the key.

Newbold, typically a dead-eye shooter, was all alone and lofted up a potentially game-tying 3-pointer that rolled out — making him 1-for-7 in the game — with 17 seconds to play.

Quayle, the leading rebounder in the game, hustled in and picked up the ball and made his way to the corner.

"I thought it was going in," Quayle said of Newbold's shot. "I think we all thought that ... I went in and grabbed it. I thought there was less time than there was and I forced up kind of a bad shot."

The Utes rebounded with 10 seconds left and Quayle fouled to stop the clock.

Utah's Kim Tillie made one free throw to give the Utes a 4-point margin and USU's Jaxon Myaer hit a 3-pointer with two seconds left to provide the final score.

Quayle, despite his untimely miss and five turnovers, made an impression nonetheless

"He's a beast. He made shots from all over the floor," Utah coach Jim Boylen said. "He's unbelievably tough to guard. I'd take him on my team every day."

Compliments aside, Utah State felt they let this one get away from them.

"If this one doesn't hurt," Morrill said, "you don't have a heart."

e-mail: jeborn@desnews.com