Jan. 7, 2012

Box Score | Quotes | Notes | Photo Gallery

LOGAN, Utah - Nevada led from start-to-finish and held off a late Utah State rally as the Wolf Pack snapped the Aggies' 33-game home conference winning streak with a hard-fought 78-71 victory in Western Athletic Conference men's basketball action Saturday night at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.

It was USU's first WAC loss at home since falling to Fresno State, 71-66, on March 3, 2007. Nevada also becomes the first WAC team to beat USU twice at home, as the Wolf Pack also won in the Spectrum on Feb. 25, 2006. The Aggies' only other WAC home losses have been to New Mexico State on Feb. 11, 2006, and the aforementioned Fresno State loss.

The loss evens USU's WAC ledger at 1-1 while the Aggies are now 9-7 overall. Nevada collected its ninth win in a row, in improving to 12-3 overall and 2-0 in WAC action. USU still leads the all-time series with Nevada, 32-13, as Saturday's loss snapped a five-game Aggie win streak in the series. The loss also halted Utah State's 38-game home winning streak in the month of January.

Senior guard Brockeith Pane tied a season-high by pouring in 21 points, hitting a season-best three three-pointers, and going 8-of-8 at the free throw line. Pane also dished out a game-high six assists, his second-straight game with six or more helpers and his fifth game with at least five assists, and also tied his season-high with five rebounds. Sophomore guard Preston Medlin also netted three treys on the way to 20 points, for his fifth 20-point outing this season. Senior forward Morgan Grim added 16 points to go with a team-leading eight rebounds, as the Aggies were out-rebounded, 34-24, marking just the sixth time that USU has had the smaller number in the rebounding category, falling to 1-5 when doing so.

Four Nevada starters notched double-digits, led by Deonte Burton's game-high 25 points, while Olek Czyz and Dario Hunt tossed in 14 points apiece and Malik Story added 12 points. Hunt pulled down a game-best 12 rebounds while Burton distributed five assists.

The Aggies made half of their shots both from the field (23-of-46) and behind the arc (7-of-14), while making 75.0 percent (18-of-24) at the free throw line. The Wolf Pack made 48.3 percent (28-of-58) of their field goals and were 38.5 percent (10-of-26) from three-point range. Nevada was also 12-of-19 (63.2 percent) from the free throw line.

Both teams committed eight turnovers, a season-low for USU, but Nevada had a 10-4 points off turnovers advantage, as well as a 10-4 edge in second-chance points, collecting 13 offensive rebounds, compared to only three for USU.

Nevada opened a 10-2 lead after a three-pointer by Czyz from the right wing, one possession after Burton hit a trey from the left corner. USU got within 15-14 at the 12:54 mark after a layup by Medlin, but the Aggies couldn't tie or take the lead. Hunt completed a three-point play with 9:55 to go for a 26-20 Wolf Pack lead. The Aggies again trimmed the gap to one point, once at 28-27 with 6:35 on the first half clock after a pair of Pane free pitch shots and the second after two free throws by junior guard E.J. Farris to make it 30-29 with 5:27 to go, but again couldn't get any closer.

Nevada's lead swelled to its largest of the night at 10 points after another Burton jumper put the Wolf Pack on top, 39-29, with 2:09 left. The Aggies got within 43-37 at halftime after sophomore guard Danny Berger hit a runner in the lane that dropped at the halftime buzzer. Nevada improved to 9-0 when leading at intermission while Utah State fell to 0-6 when trailing at the break.

A three-pointer by Pane from the left wing tied the score for the first time of the night at 56-all with 9:36 left in the game. Nevada's Jordan Burris later regained the lead for the Wolf Pack with a trey from the left wing and Burton hit a runner in the lane for a 61-56 lead with 7:03 to play. Czyz later hit back-to-back buckets to open a 67-59 Nevada advantage with 4:56 remaining, but the Aggies wouldn't go away.

After Story hit a trey from the top of the arc for a 70-63 Wolf Pack lead, Grim hit a layup and later hit one free throw, then Medlin hit a running layup to pull USU within, 70-68 with 1:10 to go. On Nevada's next possession, Burton hit a fade-away three-pointer from the left wing and was fouled, with 37 seconds left to put the Wolf Pack ahead, 74-68. Pane hit another trey from the right wing with 21 ticks to play to pull USU within 74-71, but Nevada hit all four of its free throws in the waning seconds to seal the win.

Utah State opens a four-game road swing on Thursday, Jan. 12 against New Mexico State at Las Cruces, N.M., in a game that will be televised locally on KMYU-TV, which can be found throughout the state on Comcast Ch. 22 as well as on the Dish Network (Ch. 12) and DirecTV (Ch. 12). KMYU is also available over-the-air on 2.2. KMYU-TV, which is owned by Sinclair Broadcasting Group, also owns Salt Lake City's CBS affiliate KUTV.

USU then plays at Louisiana Tech on Saturday, Jan. 14 before a non-conference game at future WAC-foe Seattle on Thursday, Jan. 19. The Aggies return to league action to close out the road swing at Idaho on Saturday, Jan. 21 before returning home to host Hawai'i on Thursday, Jan. 26 and San Jose State on Saturday, Jan. 28.

To purchase tickets, or for more Aggie basketball ticket information, fans can contact the USU Ticket Office at 1-888-USTATE-1 or 435-797-0305, in person at the USU Ticket Office inside the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, or on-line 24 hours a day at www.utahstateaggies.com by clicking on the "tickets" button.

Fans can follow the Aggie basketball program at twitter.com/Aggiehoops or on the USU men's basketball blog at usubasketball.blogspot.com. Aggie fans can also follow the Utah State athletic program at twitter.com/USUAthletics or on facebook at Utah State University Athletics.