LOGAN – The Utah State Aggies hosted the Mercer Bears last night in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament finals at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum last night in Logan.
The Bears hit a 3-pointer with 90 seconds left to take a 60-57 lead, a lead they never gave up again – winning 70-67 over the Aggies.
The Bears led for most of the game, and led by as many as 10 in the second half.
The Aggies came back to take the lead with just under six minutes to play, and held that lead until the final minutes of the game. The Aggies led by 6 points with 4:35 left to play but the Bears had one last comeback in them.
Like they have all tournament long, the Bears held strong on the road. This was the third straight road win for the Bears in the CIT tournament.
Travis Smith scored a game high 17 points for the Bears. Smith came off the bench but still played 30 minutes for the Bears. Langston Hall added 16 points and Bud Thomas chipped in 10 points for the Bears, who ended the season on a five-game winning streak.
The Aggies had four players in double figures, all starters. The Aggie bench was outscored 20-6. Kylsean Reed scored 15 points to lead all scores for the Aggies. Preston Medlin scored 14 points on just 4-10 shooting from the field and 2-8 from 3-point land. Danny Berger and Brockeith Pane added 13 points and 10 points respectively.
Though the season came to a sad end with the loss, not all is bad for the Aggies. Their under classmen got five more games of experience and three weeks more of practice. Something they would not have gotten to do had they not gone to a tournament.
Also the seniors had the chance to play five more game instead of going out with a loss in the first round of the conference tournament.
The Aggies were the last team in the state playing basketball. Weber State and Utah Valley College lost earlier in the CIT, BYU lost in the NCAA tournament and Utah and SUU did not qualify for postseason play.
The Aggies end the season 21-16 winning seven of their last nine games.
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Copyright 2012 St. George News.