Utah State basketball: 49ers halt 8-year Aggie domination

LONG BEACH, Calif. — Tai Wesley's best offensive performance of the season could not prevent Utah State from enduring its first loss to Long Beach State in eight years Friday night.

Wesley scored a season-high 22 points yet the Aggies trailed by as many as 17 in a 75-62 defeat in front of 2,656 at Long Beach State's Walter Pyramid.

Utah State (6-4) had won eight consecutive games against the 49ers (6-4) dating from 2001, and 10 of the past 11.

Wesley made 10 of 22 shots but his teammates missed 34 of the remaining 43, as the Aggies shot a season-worst 38.2 percent from the field.

"He's the only guy who played well," Utah State coach Stew Morrill said.

Jared Quayle and Nate Bendall, two of the Aggies' top three scorers, each finished two points above their season lows offensively. Quayle scored seven points and Bendall added eight.

Pooh Williams, who had been averaging 10.2 points in his past six games, missed five of seven field-goal attempts and scored just four points in 25 minutes.

Preston Medlin came off the bench to finish second in team scoring with nine points.

"I don't think we came out mentally prepared," Quayle said. "That's something we've struggled with on the road."

Wesley expressed his assessment more bluntly.

"It's embarassing," the 6-foot-7 junior from Provo said. "We got our butts kicked. We weren't ourselves.

"How do you bounce back from this game? I don't know, man. Winning is never easy but we think it's just going to come easy. Guys need to figure out what each individual needs to do to get ready for the game."

Meanwhile, two 49ers equaled or approached career bests.

T.J. Robinson tied his career high with 25 points while adding 11 rebounds and two blocks. Casper Ware had 19 points, two less than his career best, and passed for seven assists.

"They had the energy and we were lax," Quayle said. "They jumped on us and got us on our heels."

As a result, "things started going bad and we gave in," Morrill said. "We gave them layups."

The Aggies held a 9-7 lead when Long Beach used a 12-4 surge to move ahead 19-13 with 10:44 left in the first half. Though Utah State narrowed the deficit to 31-28 at halftime, the narrow margin proved deceiving.