NCAAM teams
USU

101

1-0
Final
MTST

71

0-1
RecapBox Score
1 2 T
USU 50 51 101
MTST 34 37 71
Worthington Arena, Bozeman
Associated Press 5y

Merrill drops 37 PTs and Utah St. dumps Montana St. by 30

Men's College Basketball, Montana State Bobcats, Utah State Aggies

BOZEMAN, Mont. -- Sam Merrill scored a career-high 37 points and Utah State smothered Montana State 101-71 in the season opener for both teams Tuesday night.

In the coaching debut of Utah State's Craig Smith, Merrill had the ninth-highest scoring total by a visiting player in the history of Worthington Arena. The Aggies missed just three of 26 free throw attempts in the contest.

Utah State overwhelmed the Bobcats on the glass by a 51-25 margin. The Aggies collared 16 offensive rebounds and converted them into 17 points.

The Aggies slowly built their lead and led 29-19 with 7:40 to play before halftime. Montana State trimmed the margin to six twice, but Utah State closed the half by scoring on three straight possessions to grab a 50-34 advantage. Dwayne Brown Jr. scored 15 points for Utah State.

Tyler Hall led the Bobcats with 15 points and Harald Frey scored 13.

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