Utah State basketball: Aggies blow another 2nd-half road lead

BOSTON — The Utah State men's basketball team can't get home soon enough.

Finally starting to feel the effects of their three-game road swing to start this year's regular season campaign, the Aggies let a six-point halftime lead falter as they were edged by upstart Northeastern University, 64-61, in Saturday afternoon's non-conference tilt at Matthews Arena.

"They were more aggressive in the second half than us and it shows on the scoreboard," said Utah State head coach Stew Morrill. "I'd like to see the last time a program like us started out with three road games in a row. This has certainly been a tough stretch for us, but we'll bounce back."

The Utah State (1-2) offense started off the first half with a purpose, jumping out a quick 14-2 advantage thanks in large part to Tai Wesley's six points. The Aggie junior forward paced the visitors throughout the entire first half, netting 12 of his game-high 16 points. Sophomore guard Jaxon Myaer had himself a pretty decent showing during the first half as well, scoring nine points in only seven minutes off the bench.

However, the pesky Huskies (1-1) kept things within reach during the half as a 3-pointer by senior guard/swing man Matt Janning with seven minutes left cut the Northeastern deficit to just seven at 24-17. Janning led the Huskies, finishing with a team high 14.

The Janning 3-ball from beyond the arc sparked the Huskies, who went on to outscore the Aggies 11-10 to close out the half as they were only down by six at 34-28 heading into the locker room.

Similar to what Utah State had done in the first half, Northeastern came out firing on all cylinders, outscoring their opponents 16-9. A layup by senior forward Manny Adako at 10:46 gave the home team their first lead at 44-43.

"What has been happening to us so far this year is that we get discouraged when the other team starts making their shots," Morrill said. "We also missed way too many good looks down low toward the end. Our outside perimeter game needs to become more consistent as well."

With the game still in the balance, senior guard Baptiste Bataille drilled a pair of clutch free throws with only 36.1 seconds left to give Northeastern the slim 60-58 lead. Bataille went a solid 4-for-4 from the charity stripe during the second half as he finished the game with 12 points.

The Aggies missed a golden opportunity to at least tie the score with the clock winding down when Wesley penetrated toward the net almost untouched, but opted to make an ill-advised pass to the wing — which was picked off by junior guard Chaisson Allen with 10.6 seconds left to help secure the win.

"I shouldn't have passed the ball in that situation," Wesley said. "I personally feel as though I lost this game for us because I should have just taken it to the hoop. So far this season, we've started out every game strong, but have struggled down toward the end. I think the problem is that we get too comfortable and relax when we have the lead."

Utah State will finally play its home opener Tuesday against Idaho State at 7 p.m.