A well-rested Utah State basketball team captured its second five-point victory over San Jose State this season, defeating the Spartans 88-83 Saturday afternoon.
The Aggies, after a rigorous January schedule, had a week to rest since their last game at Fullerton.They took advantage of their freshness by rushing out to a quick lead on 70 percent first-half shooting and holding off a late Spartan rally.
The victory ended a four-game losing streak and lifted the Aggies to 6-6 in Big West play and above .500 for the season at 12-11.
The Spartans fell to 2-10 and 5-16 with their seventh straight loss.
A month ago in Logan, the Aggies beat SJS 77-72.
"This was really big for us," said USU Coach Kohn Smith. "As everyone knows, we've had a tough couple of weeks. This was a good win against a good San Jose State team."
Kendall Youngblood led the USU scoring with 22 points, including 10 of 10 from the foul line. Point guard Allen Gordon had a season-high 16 points and added seven rebounds, six assists and five steals.
Matt Barnes came off the bench to hit 4-for-4 from 3-point range for 12 points for the Aggies, while Darrel White scored 12, all in the first half, before fouling out.
The Aggies seemingly had things wrapped up with an 83-76 lead with 1:06 left. But Gordon and Barnes both missed front ends of 1-and-1 tries and the Spartans made two quick baskets cut the lead to 83-81 with 33 seconds left.
But Youngblood hit a pair of foul shots at the 30-second mark and with seven seconds left and Jeff Parris added one in between to clinch it for the Aggies.
The Aggies played one of their finest halves of the season in the first half when they took a 50-41 lead on 70.4 percent shooting.
The Aggies never trailed as they jumped to an 18-9 lead just six minutes into the game. The lead got as high as 14 at 44-30 late in the half, when reserve Mike Wasserburger got hot and sank three straight 3-pointers. But Parris made a running bank shot at the buzzer to put the Aggies up by nine at the break.
In the second half, the Spartans came out smokin', scoring eight straight to make it a one-point game at 50-49. Three straight USU baskets halted the rally, but the scrappy Spartans never quit.
It was a 62-60 game with 10 minutes left when Barnes fired in three 3-pointers in a 90-second span to make it 71-62.
The Aggies moved in front by 11 at 77-66 with four minutes left, before Wasserburger, a seldom-used reserve guard, brought the Spartans back with a pair of treys.
The Spartans were led by Kenne Young with 25, Wasserburger with 17 and Tom Desiano with 11.
USU, now tied for fourth in the Big West, has another week to rest before playing Pacific Saturday in Logan.