Aggies win 10th Consecutive Gossner Foods Classic

Aggies take care of business knocking off the University of San Fransisco and then New Mexico State to win their own tournament. USU is no 8-1 on the season.

LOGAN — Look into the future two years and Utah State's 73-57 win over New Mexico State Tuesday night will mean more than just the Gossner Foods Classic title when the two teams meet in Western Athletic Conference play.?

For now, the Aggies' 10th consecutive GFC title is a good one because it sends the Aggies into Big West Conference play Saturday night with visiting Idaho.?

"It's tough to play three games the week you start league," Utah State coach Stew Morrill said. "We are going to recharge our batteries and get ready for Idaho."?

Not only did the win extend the Aggies' GFC winning streak to 20 games, but they have also won 23 straight home contests against non-conference opponents.?

The two teams have had many classic battles, but recently, Utah State has had the upper hand by winning the last four dating back to New Mexico's final three games in the Big West Conference in 2000.?

Overall, Utah State leads the series between the two teams at 27-20, and the are 18-7 against NMSU in Logan.?

Tuesday against New Mexico State, USU center Mike Ahmad produced a career-high 20 points along with three rebounds in earning a spot on the GFC All-tournament team. His previous season high was 14 points at Idaho State.?

"I'm supposed to be a person to go to during the game, (Monday) I wasn't much of that," said Ahmad, who didn't score against San Francisco Monday.?

Tournament MVP Spencer Nelson finished one rebound shy of a triple-double with 11 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds, giving him a two-day total of 31 points, 15 boards and 14 dimes. His Tuesday assist total tied a GFC record for assists in a game and his two-day total of 14 tied the tournament high.?

"Any of those awards are team awards," Nelson said. "It was a complete team effort."?

For the second night in a row, the Aggie bench played a big factor in the win. At one time in the first half, five Aggie subs were in the game at the same time and produced a 6-0 run and increased their three-point lead to nine at 23-14 with 10 minutes left in the half.?

Behind nine points from Ahmad and eight from Nate Harris the Aggies led 40-13 at the half. Ahmad scored nine of the Aggies' first 11 points to open the second half to increase the lead to 20 at 51-31 with just over 16 minutes left.?

New Mexico State's Duane John, who scored a team-high 15 points, pulled New Mexico State to within 13 with 14 minutes left. Six minutes later NMSU trailed by 12 on a James Moore lay up, but that's as close as New Mexico State would get. Moore was also named to the tournament team.?

For the second night in a row, the Aggies had more than 20 assists with 23. They have 21 against San Francisco Monday. USU had just 12 turnovers Tuesday for a total of 21 in the two games.?

Harris, who was also named to the all-tournament team, finished with 10 points and three rebounds, while John Neil came off the bench and scored seven points on 3-for-3 shooting. Cardell Butler tallied nine points.?

Moore finished with 14 points and five rebounds for New Mexico State.?

Utah State (8-1) hosts Idaho Saturday at 7 p.m. Idaho was the last team to beat the Aggies at home.?

In the 3rd and 4th place game:?

SAN FRANCISCO 70, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS-SAN ANTONIO 69: UTSA's LeRoy Hurd had the chance to send the game into overtime with a pair of technical free throws with .4 seconds left, but he hit just one of two as USF held on for the GFC consolation title.?

"We've just got to find a way to close people out," UTSA coach Tim Carter said. "Two nights in a row we've had a nice lead and we can't hold it."?

San Francisco's Tyrone Riley, who was named to the all-tournament team, hit what proved to be the game-winner with three seconds remaining.?

Riley led the Dons with 16 points, while James Bayless and Dommanic Ingerson added 13 and 11 points, respectively.?

Hurd led all scorers with 20 points and 11 rebounds.