LOGAN, Utah, Nov. 28 - Southern Utah stuck with WAC favorite Utah State through the first half but came out ice-cold in the second as the Aggies sent the Thunderbirds to their second straight loss, ??-??, Saturday night.

            Utah State ran out to an 11-2 lead early in the first half but the Thunderbirds battled back to cut the deficit to 27-26 after a pair of 3-pointers  by both Drew Allen and Ryan Brimley. The Thunderbirds were only able to get six free throws the rest of the way in the half, however, allowing the Aggies to build the lead back to 40-32 as Pooh Williams hit a pair of 3-pointers and Preston Medlin added another and a pair of free throws with 10 seconds to go in the period.

            After a miserable start in which SUU turned the ball over eight times in the first seven minutes the T-Birds did a much better job taking care of the ball the rest of the way in the half, with just 12 total in the period. SUU did struggle with its shots in the period, however, knocking down just 8-of-23 while Utah State hit 13-of-28 and turned the ball over just four times.

            The first seven minutes of the second half killed the Thunderbirds' chances, however, as SUU missed its first 11 shots before Scott Friel finally scored a layup with 13:15 to play in the half. By that time the Thunderbirds were down 58-34, as Utah State began the half hitting eight of its first 11 shots. SUU wound up shooting just 20 percent in the half, hitting 6-of-30 shots in the period while Utah State hit 19-of-32, or 59.4 percent.

            "There  are a couple of facets of the game you have to take care of," SUU head Coach Roger Reid said. "The first five minutes of the game and the first five minutes of the second half are crucial. In the first five minutes of the game we turned the ball over and that's happened too many times. You've got to make sure that you are productive and in the game in the first five minutes and we weren't we fell behind then we had to climb back in and we did.

            "Then in the second half once again we came out, we got off to a slow start, we couldn't buy a basket, and when you're playing a veteran team in an arena like this that makes it tough."

            "You try to find some positives in a loss," Reid added. "No one is excited about a loss but on the other hand after our last game the guys came out to practice worked hard, did see some good things. This is a good BBall team (Utah State), it's a tough place to play. The first half I was really pleased with the way we hung in there, we made shots, we played some defense and we were."

            Brimley scored 12 points, all in the first half, to lead Southern Utah, while Davis Baker finished with 10.

            Medlin and Williams each scored 17 points to co-lead Utah State.

-- SUU --