After having two games canceled against Weber State and Dixie State, Utah State was able to play their game against Northern Colorado, getting a 63-50 win.
It was a close first half for the Aggies as they only led the Bears by one point at the half but Utah State used a strong second half, scoring 35 points and holding Northern Colorado to 23. Justin Bean helped to lift the Aggies past the Bears, grabbing 11 rebounds, two assists, and two steals and scoring 12 points (6-11 shooting). The leading scorer for Utah State was Marco Anthony, who scored 19 points (7-20 shooting; 2-3 from three; 3-4 from the free throw line). He also had a rebound, an assist, and two steals. Rollie Worster had 12 points (6-13 shooting) and also had four rebounds (three defensive, one offensive), four assist, two steals, and a block.
Utah State would fall behind as many as four points at the beginning of the second half before pulling away. With just 8:36 left in the game, Utah State only led 49-44 and the Aggies would go on to score 14 points to build a bigger lead that would prove to get Utah State far enough ahead for the 13 point victory.
As a team, Utah State shot 26-62 (41.9%) while Northern Colorado shot 19-48 (39.6%). Utah State shot 3-8 from three (37.5%) while Norther Colorado was 6-23 (26.1%). The Aggies would make eight free throws on thirteen attempts while the Bears made six free throws on nine attempts. The Aggies grabbed 40 rebounds while the Bears were able to get 30. Utah State had 13 assists, nine steals, two blocks, nine turnovers, and 10 fouls. Northern Colorado had eight assists, three steals, three blocks, 16 turnovers, and 15 fouls.
Overall, this wasn’t a bad game for the Aggies considering they haven’t played since December 8th. Defensively the Aggies did a nice job in the second half and the team was consistent enough to keep building on the lead. The shooting percentage wasn’t the best it could have been and that will be something to clean up going into Mountain West play on December 21st against San Jose State.