LOGAN, Utah – Utah State men's basketball picked up its 11th victory in the Mountain West with a 71-55 decision over New Mexico on Wednesday night to tie the most conference wins by the Aggies since joining the league in 2013-14. With the win, USU moved to 21-6 overall, including an 11-3 mark in league play, while the Lobos dropped to 11-15 overall and 5-9 in the Mountain West.
 
The Aggies used 16 offensive rebounds and forced 18 UNM turnovers to generate 20 more shots than the Lobos during the contest, leading to a season-high 25 second-chance points and another 23 points off of UNM turnovers.
 
Freshman center Neemias Queta recorded his team-best eighth double-double of the season with a game-high 23 points, one off of his season high, and added a game-high 10 rebounds, including a team-best five on the offensive end. Queta finished the night shooting 10-of-12 from the floor and added four assists, three blocks and one steal. The three blocks moved Queta to 69 rejections this season, which ranks seventh in school history in career blocks, tying Jalen Moore.
 
Junior guards Diogo Brito and Sam Merill followed with 13 points apiece. Merrill also added five rebounds, four assists and two steals, while Brito logged six rebounds, four assists and a season-high-tying four steals. In all, Utah State finished the night with a season-high-tying 13 steals, as all but two Aggies tallied at least one, including a career-high three from redshirt freshman forward Justin Bean.
 
A thunderous put-back dunk by Bean with less than 30 seconds in the game put the finishing touches on the night for the Aggies, but it didn't begin as Utah State would have liked as New Mexico built a 14-7 lead a little more than six minutes into the game.
 
Queta scored all seven of the Aggies' opening points as Utah State shot just 3-of-12 from the floor over the same stretch. Utah State overcame an 18-11 deficit later in the half with a 10-2 run to take its first lead in close to nine minutes, 21-20. The lead swapped hands six more times down the stretch until Merrill's third 3-point basket of the half put the Aggies up 35-32 going into the break.
 
The Utah State lead grew to double digits with nine minutes to play in the second half when sophomore guard Abel Porter hit a corner 3, putting the Aggies up 52-41 with 9:01 to play. The basket ignited the crowd, leading to a Lobo timeout and the visitors only came within seven points down the stretch with the Aggies posting the 71-55 victory.
 
The 55 points marked a season-low for New Mexico as UNM senior guard Anthony Mathis was the only Lobo in double figures, finishing with 20 points. New Mexico wrapped up the night shooting 40.0 percent (20-of-50) from the floor, 30.4 percent (7-of-23) from behind the 3-point line and 66.7 percent (8-of-12) at the free throw line.
 
Utah State ended its night shooting 37.1 percent with 26 field goals on 70 attempts. The Aggies were without double-digit baskets behind the 3-point line for the first time in seven games, shooting 25.9 percent (7-of-27) from deep, and converting 70.6 percent (12-of-17) at the free throw line.
 
USU returns to the court on Saturday, facing Boise State in the only regular season game between the two teams this season. The Aggies and Broncos will tip at 2 p.m., inside Taco Bell Arena in Boise, Idaho, with the game live on Stadium, found on Facebook by searching "Stadium College Basketball."
 
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