Utah State Goes Ice Cold In Second Half, Fall To UNLV For Second Straight Loss

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Utah State Aggies went ice cold from the field in the second half, falling to UNLV 59-56 for their second straight loss.

Utah State shot 6-of-28 or 21 percent from the field in the second half in their loss to UNLV.

Marco Anthony led the Aggies with 18 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists. Neemias Queta dropped 8 points, 11 boards and 6 blocks. Justin Bean added 10 points and 6 rebounds.

David Jenkins Jr. and Bryce Hamilton each scored 14 points to lead the Runnin’ Rebels.

FINAL | Fight to the finish falls short tonight. #AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/N1cFH0oW44

— USU Men's Hoops (@USUBasketball) January 26, 2021

Over 8 minutes into the game and it was all Marco Anthony and Neemias Queta for the Aggies and the duo scored the first 15 points. Anthony had 9 points and Queta added 6 points.

Justin Bean finally became the third Aggie to score a bucket with just over 9 minutes remaining in the half. After trailing by one point, Brock Miller picked up a four-point play by hitting a three-pointer while getting fouled and making the free throw.

Bryce Hamilton knocked down a three-pointer at the buzzer to give UNLV their largest lead of the game, 39-34. The Aggies were shooting the ball fairly well at 42 percent but couldn’t get it going from the perimeter in the first 20 minutes, making just three of their 13 attempts from beyond the arc. Anthony had 12 points and 6 rebounds at the break.

Queta finished the half with 6 points, 4 boards, 3 assists and 3 blocks. UNLV had three players in double figures at the break. David Jenkins Jr. (11), Moses Wood (10) and Bryce Hamilton (11) combined for 32 of their 39 points. The difference in that half was the 8 threes that UNLV made.

The halftime adjustments were beneficial for Utah State as they started the second half on a 7-3 run and cut the UNLV lead to one point. Their defense kept the Rebels scoreless for over 5 minutes but the Aggies went without any points for a 4-minute stretch.

It didn’t get much better after that point for either team offensively. Utah State made just one of their last 16 field goal attempts midway through the half. The Rebels managed to get just three points during that span and had a 48-43 at the under-8 media timeout.

After the Rebels went on an 8-0 run and had a 10 point lead, Rollie Worster knocks down a three-pointer to stop a 6+ minute scoreless drought. They were one of their last 19 before that three.

After pulling within 5 points, the Rebels made their 13th three-pointer and was up by 8 points with just over one minute left.

Utah State dropped their record to 12-5 overall and 9-2 in conference play. They will have a rematch with the Rebels in Las Vegas on Wednesday, January 27 at 9 p.m. MST on FS1.