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RENO, Nev. (AP) -- Nate Harris led four players in double figures with 19 points and 11 rebounds as Utah State hung on to beat San Jose State 76-69 Thursday to advance to the semifinals of the Western Athletic Conference tournament.
Chaz Spicer scored 15 points, David Pak 12 and Jaycee Carroll 11 for the Aggies (22-7), who made 18-of-20 free throws and used an 18-1 run to build a 37-25 halftime lead. Harris made 7-of-10 from the field and all five free-throw attempts to go with two assists and two blocked shots.
Demetrius Brown scored 17 of his game-high 26 points in the second half for the Spartans (6-25), who shot just 28 percent from the field the first half but made a 10-0 run midway through the second half to pull to within 68-67 with 2:38 to go.
Utah State, which has won 21 games or more in each of the past seven seasons, will face Louisiana Tech (20-11) in Friday night's semifinal.
Pak hit a pair of 3-pointers then stole an inbounds pass and scored to put Utah State ahead 50-37 early in the second half.
Carroll's 3-pointer made it 53-40 at 14:54 but the Spartans scored 10 unanswered points capped by Tyree Gardner's layup off a steal to cut it to 53-50 at 11:53.
Spicer's steal and basket put the Aggies up 61-53 at 9:21. But Gardner and Carlton Spencer followed with 3-pointers and Brown's put-back cut Utah State's lead to 62-61 at 7:20.
Carroll's jumper put Utah State up 68-65 but Brown answered inside to make it 68-67 at 2:38.
Durrall Peterson made a pair of free throws for a 70-67 lead and Harris scored inside to make it 72-67 with 1:21 left. Brown scored again inside to pull to 72-69 with 56 seconds to go, but Carroll scored inside at :31 and Pak hit both ends of a one-and-one with 14 seconds left to seal the win.
(Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
San Jose St. 25 44 69 Final Utah St. 37 39 76
San Jose St. Name Min FG 3Pt FT Off Reb Ast TO Stl Blk PF Pts A. Elam 7 2-4 0-2 0-0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 4 J. Cozad 36 4-8 3-5 2-3 0 5 0 1 3 0 3 13 C. Spencer 37 5-13 1-5 0-1 0 2 9 4 3 0 0 11 D. Brown 33 11-16 0-1 4-4 5 8 3 5 2 0 3 26 M. Misko 16 2-5 0-0 0-1 1 1 2 1 0 0 2 4 J. Richardson 7 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 T. Gardner 24 3-9 1-5 0-0 0 2 2 2 0 0 2 7 D. Thomas 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 K. Smith 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 K. Fleming 3 0-1 0-0 0-2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 L. Holloway 6 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 M. Barbary 24 1-4 0-0 2-2 4 6 0 0 2 1 2 4 Totals 200 28-64 5-20 8-13 11 28 18 14 11 2 16 69 Percentages: .438 .250 .615 Team Rebounds: 2 Utah St. Name Min FG 3Pt FT Off Reb Ast TO Stl Blk PF Pts D. Pak 33 4-9 2-7 2-2 0 3 3 4 1 1 3 12 C. Matheus 30 3-5 0-0 0-0 0 2 1 1 1 0 2 6 N. Harris 31 7-10 0-0 5-5 4 11 2 3 0 2 2 19 J. Carroll 35 5-12 1-5 0-1 0 4 6 3 3 0 1 11 D. Peterson 30 2-5 1-4 2-2 0 3 4 4 0 0 4 7 C. Session 15 1-2 0-0 4-4 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 6 N. Hammer 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 C. Spicer 21 5-6 0-0 5-6 0 3 1 1 1 0 0 15 Totals 200 27-49 4-16 18-20 4 29 17 17 6 3 14 76 Percentages: .551 .250 .900 Team Rebounds: 1
