Dec. 6, 2008

Box Score | Photo Gallery

SALT LAKE CITY - Brigham Young held off a late Utah State rally to deal the Aggies their first loss of the season in a 68-63 men's basketball battle at EnergySolutions Arena in Salt Lake City.

USU is now 5-1 overall, while BYU improves to 8-0 with the win. The loss snaps the Aggies' 10-game regular season game win streak dating back to the final five games of last season and the first five this year.

Saturday was the 225th meeting between USU and BYU, extending the oldest rivalry in USU history. The Cougars now hold a 135-90 all-time series lead, winning the last two meetings after USU had won the previous four in a row.

The loss also evened the Aggies record at EnergySolutions Arena at 3-3 as Saturday was the first game in the venue since the 1998-99 season, USU head coach Stew Morrill's first year at the helm of the Aggies.

USU was led by senior forward Gary Wilkinson's 22 points. Wilkinson and sophomore guard Tyler Newbold pulled down nine rebounds each, tying for game-high honors in leading the Aggies to a 39-27 rebounding advantage.

Sophomore forward Tai Welsey added 12 points, while Newbold tossed in 11, hitting three three-pointers.

BYU's Jonathan Tavernari tallied a game-high 24 points and tied the game-high with nine rebounds, while Jimmer Fredette added 16 points.

The Aggie defense held BYU leading scorer Lee Cummard to six points, 14 below his season average.

Jackson Emery had a game-high five steals, while Tavernari added four swipes, part of BYU's 12 steals on the night, as USU had 17 turnovers compared to nine miscues for BYU.

The Cougars jumped out to a 26-18 lead on a jumper by Gavin MacGregor with 9:24 left in the half and extended the lead to 36-26 with 3:46 remaining in the first frame on a Jackson three-pointer. The Aggies closed the half on a 9-2 run, started with a three-pointer by junior guard Jared Quayle and ended by Quayle with a jumper with 23 seconds left and USU trailing at the half, 38-35.

To start the second half, Wilkinson and Quayle hit back-to-back buckets to put USU ahead, 39-38, but BYU later rallied to take a 52-45 lead with 10:13 left in the game on a MacGregor layup.

USU closed to 62-60 with 1:03 remaining on a Wilkinson layup, but BYU held off the Aggies' rally. Newbold hit a three-pointer from the left wing with 7.1 seconds left to pull USU within, 65-63, but the Cougars hit three-of-four free throws in the waning seconds for the final scoring margin.

The Aggies shot a season-low 40.4 percent (21-of-52) from the floor, including 5-of-22 (22.7 percent) from three-point range, also a season-low. USU was a season-best 84.2 percent (16-of-19) at the free throw line.

The Cougars were 22-of-53 (41.5 percent) field goal shooting including 8-of-19 (42.1 percent) behind the arc. BYU hit 66.7 percent (16-of-24) at the charity stripe.

Utah State will continue its four-game road streak on Saturday, Dec. 13, facing Utah Valley at 7 p.m., at Orem, Utah. After games at Southern Utah on Wednesday, Dec. 17 and Idaho State on Saturday, Dec. 20, the Aggies return home to the friendly confines of the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on Monday, Dec. 22 at 7 p.m.

Aggie basketball tickets are available online 24 hours a day at www.UtahStateAggies.com and clicking on "tickets" in left column, or by phone by calling 1-888-USTATE-1 or (435) 797-0305.

Utah State basketball games are broadcast on KVNU (610 AM) and KLZX (95.9 FM) in Logan, Utah, KFAN (1320 AM) or ESPN Radio (1230 AM) in Salt Lake City and KLZX (105.3 FM) in Montpelier, Idaho, as well as on the internet at www.UtahStateAggies.com. Al Lewis serves as the play-by-play announcer while Rod Tueller serves as the analyst during home games.