The BYU men’s basketball team beat the Utah State Aggies in Logan at the Spectrum. The tensions were high due to BYU’s triumph over USU at Energy Solutions Arena in Salt Lake City last season. Although last season’s win was important, this season’s win meant a lot to the Cougars, who had not beat USU in the Spectrum in Logan since 2000.
The game started off slow, with the score staying 0-0 in the first two minutes of the game. Finally, USU made an appearance on the board when a player made his first free throw of the night, bringing the to score 1-0.
BYU’s Kyle Collinsworth answered with a layup, making the score 2-1 BYU. From there the two teams stayed neck and neck, always within two points of each other. BYU would sometimes take the lead, only to have USU then turn around and take the lead. Overall, BYU struggled to take control in the first half, mainly keeping up with the competition but never getting away with the score.
“We didn’t shoot the ball very well from the perimeter, and we were a little bit scattered defensively,” head coach Dave Rose said. “But what we really did was find other ways to impact the game.”
At halftime BYU was behind by one point as the score stood at 32-31 USU. Tyler Haws had a rough time in the first half finding chances to score, but he made up for it in the second half, ending with a total of 35 points. He left the game as the highest scorer of the night. Collinsworth was close behind, going 10 for 10 at the free throw line and putting up a total of 20 points.
USU took a hit when its center, David Colette, who had 12 points, fouled out with 4:42 to play and BYU up 68-58.
“Rebounds are haunting us,” USU head coach Stew Morrill said. “And David Colette has got to stay on the floor for us. We’ve got to keep him in the basketball game. We also didn’t have enough of the bench. When we get into conference play, depth is going to be really important.”
USU’s Chris Smith and Dairus Perkins had career-high nights in scoring, and Jalen Moore had his first career double-double. The key for USU going forward is more depth on the bench, as mentioned before by Coach Morrill, and defense on the pain.
BYU will face its next opponent, Hawaii, at Energy Solutions Arena in Salt Lake on Saturday, Dec. 6.
