SAN JOSE, Calif.- San José State sophomore guard Noah Baumann tied a single-game school record with seven three-point baskets and finished with a career-high 29 points, but it was Utah State flying home with an 81-63 Mountain West victory.
Baumann was 7-of-10 from beyond the arc for the game and 9-of-14 from the floor as the Spartans' only double-figure scorer. He tied a Spartan mark set by Adrian Oliver in 2010 and James Kinney in 2011.
Baumann nailed four of his treys in the first 9:01 of the game as San Jose State (3-13, 0-4 Mountain West) built a 24-9 advantage. The 15-point lead was the team's biggest lead of the season.
But, 22 turnovers for the second time in three games proved to be the Spartans' undoing. A 12-0 run by the Aggies helped gave Utah State (13-5, 3-2 Mountain West) its first lead of the game, 31-29 with 4:19 to go on a three-point basket by Diogo Brito who also finished with his career scoring 23 points.
Utah State, which finished with just nine turnovers and only three of them in the final 33 minutes of the game, went into the locker room with a 41-35 halftime lead. The Spartans got as close as 43-41 before a 17-3 outburst gave the Aggies a 60-44 advantage with 11:30 to go after Brito's fourth of five three-point baskets in the game.
Utah State finished with five players in double-figure scoring. Center Neemias Queta finished with 14 points and a game-high nine rebounds for the Aggies.
San José State's 12 three-pointers was a season-high. The Spartans shot 50 percent from long distance but 15 fewer field goal tries due to the high turnover count prevented San Jose State from sustaining its best start to a game in conference play.
The Spartans close out the week at UNLV, Saturday, January 19, in a 4:30 p.m. game that will be televised by AT&T SportsNet.
