Utah State 67, Nevada 45
LOGAN, Utah -(USU Media Relations) Junior guard Brockeith Pane provided a game-high 18 points to lead No. 21/22 Utah State to a 67-45 triumph over Nevada Wednesday night in Western Athletic Conference men’s basketball action. A national television audience on ESPN2 watched as USU won its 16th-straight overall and its 27th-consecutive home game at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
The Aggies, ranked No. 21 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll and No. 22 in the Associated Press Poll, improved to 21-2 overall and 10-0 in WAC play, including winning a conference-record 24-straight league games. USU has won 42 of its last 46 WAC games as the Aggies are 50-8 in conference games during the last four years.
The 24 consecutive conference wins is a new school record, surpassing the 2000 and 2001 USU teams of the Big West Conference for the longest league winning streak in program history. Utah State’s 29-straight home conference game winning streak is also a school record.
Nevada had its four-game win streak snapped and is 8-14 overall and 5-4 in WAC play with the loss. The Aggies have now beaten the Wolf Pack in the last five meetings and nine of the last 11. The current five-game win streak matches streaks from 1954 to 1974 and 1999 to 2006 for the longest winning streaks in the series. USU is now a palindromic 31-13 all-time against Nevada, including 16-2 at home.
The 47 points by Nevada was not only the lowest score by either team in the series history since 1938-39, which is the 18th-oldest rivalry in school history, but the 22-point scoring difference is the largest in the series since Feb. 5, 1998 when USU won 74-52 at Logan. Utah State has won the last three and four of the last five meetings by double-digits, including 81-67 earlier this season on Jan. 8 at Reno. Nevada’s 47 points Wednesday is its fewest overall points scored since December, 2001.
Pane was joined in double-digits by fellow junior, forward Brady Jardine with 14 points and was one rebound shy of his fourth double-double of the season with a team-leading tying nine boards. The senior duo of forward Tai Wesley and guard Pooh Williams added eight points apiece with Wesley matching Jardine’s nine rebounds. Senior guard Tyler Newbold collected seven rebounds and dished out a game-high four assists, part of the Aggies’ 15 helpers on the night. USU had a 42-33 rebounding advantage.
Nevada was led by Deonte Burton with 11 points while Olek Czyz, Dario Hunt and Malik Story all added seven points each. Hunt notched game highs of 10 rebounds and four blocked shots.
The Aggie defense forced 13 Wolf Pack turnovers while only committing seven miscues, paving the way for a 19-1 points off turnovers advantage. Wednesday was Utah State’s fifth single-digit turnover outing of the season, winning on all five occasions.
USU shot 26-of-63 (41.3 percent) from the field, including 5-of-22 (22.7 percent) from three-point range, while making 10-of-13 (76.9 percent) at the free throw line. Nevada shot 32.7 percent (18-of-55) field goal shooting, making a paltry 2-of-17 (11.8 percent) behind the arc, as well as hitting 63.6 percent (7-of-11) at the charity stripe. The 11.8 three-point percentage is a new season-low for a USU opponent.
Wednesday’s battle started with seven lead changes and two ties in the first seven minutes of the game before USU overcame an 11-10 deficit with five unanswered for a 15-11 lead. Pane gave the Aggies the lead for good at 12-11 on a coast-to-coast rebound and fast break layup at the 13:23 mark and Jardine ended the spurt with a layup with 11:44 on the clock. A three-pointer from the top of the arc by Williams followed by a pair of Pane free throws gave USU a 27-19 lead with 4:40 left in the half, but Nevada closed out the half with a 9-2 spurt to close to 29-28 at the break. Czyz hit a three-point play on a dunk and was fouled with 46 seconds left and Burton netted a pair of free pitch shots with two ticks to play to pull with Wolf Pack within one.
Utah State improved to 18-0 when leading at halftime while Nevada fell to 2-10 when trailing at intermission.
The one-point halftime margin would be the closest that Nevada would get. The Aggies opened the second stanza with a Willams three-pointer from the left corner, to spark a 12-3 streak that opened a 10-point lead, and Jardine scored on a putback to cap the run for a 41-31 Aggie advantage and Nevada never got within eight points again.
Jardine later scored on a layup for USU’s first 20-point lead at 62-41 with 3:38 left and junior forward Matt Formisano hit a baseline jumper with 1:28 to play for the Aggies’ largest lead of the night at 67-43 before Devonte Elliott hit a layup with 22 seconds left for the final score.
Utah State continues its homestand in the friendly confines of the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, hosting Boise State on Saturday, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. Saturday’s battle between the Aggies and Broncos will be regionally televised on CW30 (Comcast Ch. 15 in Cache Valley).