Utah State guard Pooh Williams drives to the basket as Nevada forward Luke Babbitt defends during an NCAA college basketball game Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009, in Logan, Utah. (AP Photo/The Herald Journal, Eli Lucero)
That's why they call them growing pains.
The youthful Nevada Wolf Pack was handed a stinging lesson on the road in Logan, Utah, Thursday night, falling to the Utah State Aggies, 72-61, in front of 10,023 fans at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
The loss snapped Nevada's five-game winning streak and dropped the Wolf Pack (12-8, 5-2) two games behind the Aggies (20-1, 8-0) in the loss column in the Western Athletic Conference standings.
Utah State, which shared the WAC regular season championship with the Wolf Pack, Boise State and New Mexico State last year, took control of the conference by beating Nevada. The Aggies have now won 15 games in a row overall, 29 in a row at home and are a stunning 154-12 at home in Stew Morrill's 11 seasons as head coach.
The Pack, though, seemed ready, willing and able to spoil the Aggies fun, taking a 45-43 lead with just less than 11 minutes to play on an Armon Johnson jumper. Johnson's jumper, though, ended up being the end of the Wolf Pack's fun for the evening.
Utah State promptly went on a 17-0 run during the next six minutes, taking a 60-45 lead with just under five minutes to play. Stavon Williams, a 6-foot-3 junior guard, came off the bench to score eight points in just 90 seconds to jumpstart the run.
Williams, who finished with 15 points, drove the lane for an easy layup to give the Aggies a 47-45 lead and then drained a pair of wide open 3-pointers for a 53-45 lead.
Point guard Jared Quayle, who scored seven points during the run, then hit a pair of free throws and a 3-pointer to give the Aggies a commanding 58-45 lead. Tai Wesley capped off the run with a layup and a 60-45 lead with 4:50 to play.
The Wolf Pack struggled at both ends of the court in the second half. The Pack went
scoreless for the first five minutes of the second half and then went eight minutes without a field goal during Utah State's pivotal run. Nevada shot just 31 percent in the second half and 39.7 for the game.
The Pack, which was 2-0 on the road in the WAC before Thursday night, tried to make things interesting in the final minutes.
Luke Babbitt hit a pair of 3-pointers and Ahyaro Phillips put back an offensive rebound to cut Utah State's lead to 62-54 with just under two minutes to play. Utah State, though, scored its last 10 points from the free throw line to secure the victory. The Aggies finished with a 24-8 edge over the Pack at the free throw line for the game.
The disappointing second half wiped out a very productive first half for the Wolf Pack. Nevada controlled the first half, taking a 34-30 lead at the intermission. The Pack quieted the crowd with a 7-0 run, capped off by a Johnson jumper, to take a 14-9 lead with 12 minutes to play in the opening half.
Brandon Fields, who scored eight of his 11 points in the first half, hit a 3-pointer to give the Pack a 22-17 lead with 8:10 to play in the first half. Babbitt had a layup for a 24-19 lead and an 18-foot jumper for a 28-23 lead.
Johnson, who finished with a team-high 18 points, also drained a pair of jumpers for Nevada leads of 26-19 and 32-25. The Pack led the Aggies over the final 13 minutes of the first half.
The Wolf Pack played well on both ends of the floor in the opening half, shooting 50 percent (13-of-26) from the floor for the first time this season in the first half. The Pack's defense also held Utah State to just 37 percent (11-of-30) shooting in the opening half. The Aggies came into the game as the top shooting team in the WAC at 51 percent.
Nevada's defense also did an outstanding job on Aggies' forward Gary Wilkinson,
holding the 6-9 senior to just four points in the first half. Wilkinson, who was averaging 17 points a game, finished with just seven and wasn't much of a factor all night.
It was Wesley, though, that ended up hurting the Pack inside. The 6-7 sophomore destroyed the Pack under the basket, scoring a game-high 22 points. Wesley, a big reason why the Pack's Dario Hunt found himself in foul trouble the whole game (Hunt played just 15 minutes and scored just three points), scored Utah State's first 11 points of the second half and single-handedly wiped out the Pack's halftime lead.
Quayle, who scored 10 of his 14 points in the second half, hit a floater in the lane for a 43-41 Utah State lead with 12:10 to play but Johnson answered with a pair of
jumpers, giving the Pack its last lead of the night at 45-43.
The Wolf Pack remained in second place in the WAC standings despite the loss, just ahead of Boise State (14-6, 5-3). The Pack will play at Idaho (10-10, 4-3) on Saturday night (7 p.m.). Idaho, which beat Boise State, 63-59 Thursday night, stunned the Pack, 78-73, on Jan. 3 at Lawlor Events Center.