Dec. 23, 2003

Final Stats

LOGAN, Utah - Spencer Nelson scored USU's final three points, including a short jumper with :01 to lift Utah State to a thrilling 76-74 victory against Brigham Young here late Tuesday night. The Aggies had built up a 51-25 halftime lead and then hung on as Brigham Young tied the game with :21 left before Nelson's heroics.

Utah State's Cardell Butler scored 15 of his 19 points in the first half while Nelson scored 13 of his 19 points in the opening 20 minutes as well as the Aggies raced out to a big lead on the Cougars.

With the win USU improved to 6-1, while BYU dropped to 7-2. Nelson and Butler led four Aggies in double figures as Nate Harris added 11 points and Mark Brown 10. BYU was led by Rafael Araujo's 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Mike Hall scored 15, Mark Bigelow 14 and Jared Jensen 10.

The Aggies built up a 26-point first half lead but BYU faught back in the second half, outscoring the Aggies 49-25 in the final 20 minutes. BYU cut its 26-point deficit to 16 just six minutes into the final period and the Aggie lead was down to eight points (68-60) with 7:04 left in the game.

Trailing by seven with 2:44 left, BYU's Mike Hall scored and converted a free throw for a three-point play to cut the margin to four at the 2:19 mark. BYU's Kevin Woodberry then drilled a three-pointer to cut the Aggie lead to 73-72 with 1:17 left.

USU's Nelson then made one of two free throws with :37 left before BYU's Mark Bigelow hit a layup to tie the game with :21 left. Nelson then hit a short jumper with :01 to win the game for the Aggies.

"We are going to feel good about that one regardless of the second half," said Utah State head coach Stew Morrill. "All the credit in the world goes to BYU for a tremendous comeback. They did a great job in the second half. We couldn't stop them. They took us out of our offense. They did to us in the second half what we did to them in the first half. It was an amazing game that way for it to be so different each half. I am not sure I have ever been in one like that. We ended up two ahead and got ourselves a nice Christmas present. BYU has got a fabulous team and that is a heck of a win for our team. We are going to feel real good about that."

For the game USU shot 52.0 percent from the field and out-rebounded BYU 30-21. BYU shot 43.5 percent in the first half, but made 21 of 27 second half shots for 77.8 percent en route to finishing at 62.0 percent.

Meanwhile the Aggies converted 16 of 20 free throw attempts, while BYU was just seven of 16 from the charity stripe.

"There are a lot of areas we can get better in," Morrill added. "I didn't think we guarded at all in the second half and we didn't execute our offense. You can talk about those things forever, but you can talk about all the good things in the first half forever. It was one of those deals. They have got a lot of really good players."

Utah State will be off until it hosts its own Gossner Foods Holiday Classic on Dec. 29 and Dec. 30. UT-San Antonio will meet New Mexico State at 5:30 p.m. while the Aggies will host San Francisco on the first day.