Utah State basketball: Aggie home streak snapped by Gaels

LOGAN — A sellout crowd of 10,270 might have seen it differently, but Utah State coach Stew Morrill said the reason his Aggies dropped a hard-fought 68-63 decision to Saint Mary's was simple.

The Gaels are a better team than Utah State is.

"They're better than us right now," Morrill said. "We have to get better. If we want to compete in the WAC, we've got to get better."

The loss was particularly painful for Utah State, not just because of a handful of fouls called by the officials during the closing minutes, but also because it snapped a 37-game win streak at the Spectrum for the Aggies.

"Nobody died. We got beat. It was bound to happen. It was a hell of a home court winning streak while it lasted," Morrill said. "We got beat by a really good team."

A really good team with a really good player.

Saint Mary's senior center Omar Samhan was almost unstoppable. The 6-foot-11, 265-pounder scored 22 points and grabbed 17 rebounds to keep the Gaels in the game despite USU's spirited effort.

Samhan made 10 of 18 shots to lead the Gaels (6-1) and managed to stay in the game despite playing with four fouls when the officials were calling things awfully close during the final minutes.

"We knew he was a load coming in," USU post Nate Bendall said. "We tried to game plan around him. We tried to give him different looks and throw some different things at him, but he is a phenomenal player and you can tell by his stats."

Saint Mary's led most of the game, but never by more than eight points. Utah State was never really out of it and had numerous chances to take control, but couldn't hit key shots at key times.

After rallying to finally take a 52-51 lead on a jumper by Tyler Newbold with 8:55 to play and a 3-pointer by Jared Quayle made it 55-52 with 8:22 left, the Aggies went cold for the next six minutes and scored only two points — a short jump hook by Bendall — as the Gaels seized momentum from USU.

"They made shots when they had to make shots," Morrill said. "They made more plays when the game was on the line. We got up three, then we couldn't score."

Eventually they had to play without Bendall and Tai Wesley, both of whom fouled out.

Bendall picked up his fifth foul with 2:24 to play as he made an attempt to block a shot in a fast break. Wesley was sent to the bench a minute later when he was called for blocking as a Saint Mary's player drove into the paint.