By Craig Morris

February 9, 2009 | The Utah State Aggies took nearly six minutes to score their first points, but they did what needed to be done to get the win.

Louisiana Tech led by as many as five early, but the Aggies rallied behind great play from Pooh Williams and Jaxon Myaer to lead 22-17 at halftime.

Brady Jardine scored on a putback dunk early in the first half only to take an errant elbow to the head a minute later that ended his game before it really got started.

The Ags came out in the second half on fire. They built a 17-point lead five and a half minutes in. Gary Wilkinson and Tai Wesley got it going in the post and that opened up the outside for the likes of Williams, Jared Quayle and Tyler Newbold to rain threes on the Bulldogs.

Rather than succumb to what looked to be a blowout, Louisiana Tech clawed back. Led by Kyle Gibson with 14 points and Ashaolu Olu with 12 points, the Bulldogs pulled to within four points with one minute remaining.

"They're a tough, physical team," said Wilkinson. "This is one that we had to grind out and we are thankful to come out with a win."

Wilkinson led all scorers with 16 points and hit eight of nine free throws. Newbold added 13 points and seven rebounds. Quayle didn't have his best scoring game, but he had eight assists and a couple of key rebounds down the stretch.

As a team, the Aggies shot 88.2 percent from the charity stripe and 46.7 percent from the three-point line. They were outrebounded by the Bulldogs, 29-27.

"We played hard, we defended pretty well," said USU Coach Stew Morrill. "It was just kind of an old-fashioned slugfest."

The Aggies head on the road to Moscow and Boise before returning to host CS Bakersfield on Feb. 18. Wins over Idaho and Boise State would deliver the regular season conference championship and secure a No. 1 seed for the Ags going in to the WAC Tournament.

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