Utah State Takes Down New Mexico For Regular-Season Mountain West Title
Mar 7, 2026, 4:50 PM
Utah State guard MJ Collins Jr. celebrates with the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum crowd while playing New Mexico on Saturday, March 7, 2026. (USU Athletics, Arpan Bose)
(USU Athletics, Arpan Bose)
LOGAN, Utah – The Utah State Aggies are Mountain West regular-season champions for just the second time after surviving a serious upset attempt from New Mexico in a 94-90 win.
USU (25-6, 15-5 MW) hosted the New Mexico Lobos (20-11, 14-7 MW) at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on Saturday, March 7.
𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒‼️#ShowMe x #AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/55rBx5Tp5v
— USU Men’s Hoops (@USUBasketball) March 7, 2026
First Half
With the support of a packed Spectrum, USU leapt out to a 10-2 lead in less than three minutes.
The Aggies did it with balance, getting buckets for four of their five starters while limiting the Lobos to 1-of-5 from the field.
MJ. AND ONE. #AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/aqYPSu9j8B
— USU Men’s Hoops (@USUBasketball) March 7, 2026
Utah State’s physicality set an early tone that New Mexico struggled to answer.
The home team used the momentum to their advantage, making seven free throws before New Mexico had even gone to the charity stripe.
Eli with the 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 and the 𝘣𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘵#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/mMFxMrKvVZ
— USU Men’s Hoops (@USUBasketball) March 7, 2026
The Hurd exploded midway through the period when Mason Falslev found a cutting Garry Clark for a dunk off a perfectly placed lob.
Clark’s dunk gave USU a 22-10 lead.
This is a work of art! @mason_falslev ✈️ @Gclark12058 pic.twitter.com/xScLxD1wJ9
— Utah State Athletics (@USUAthletics) March 7, 2026
New Mexico battled through the slow start and made just enough plays to keep pace, trailing 34-28 with 4:53 left.
Freshman Jake Hall did most of the Lobo damage, working around screens relentlessly to score 19 points and keep his team within striking distance.
.@USUBasketball trails 43-42 at the half as they look to secure the No. 1 seed in next week’s @MountainWest Championships. #usuaggies pic.twitter.com/XoEs1TlsEi
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) March 7, 2026
After trailing by as many as 12 points, UNM went into halftime with a 43-42 lead, its first of the night.
Six Aggies scored six or more points in the half.
Second Half
MJ Collins Jr. and Drake Allen drilled back-to-back corner threes as USU started the second half hot.
Utah State opened the final 20 minutes on a 12-2 run to take back all the momentum.
Blessing your timeline with an MJ Collins three 🙏#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/k8qj0wcD59
— USU Men’s Hoops (@USUBasketball) March 7, 2026
The Lobos responded with three triples from Hall as the freshman topped the 30-point plateau. Hall had made 7-of-10 from deep to that point.
USU led 70-64 with under ten minutes to play, thanks to four second-half three-pointers from Collins Jr.
Yeah, he’s pretty good…#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/3IgmZDReZ7
— USU Men’s Hoops (@USUBasketball) March 7, 2026
A Karson Templin lob to Kolby King gave the Aggies a 77-68 lead with under six minutes to play.
KT ➡️ Kolby#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/fsaIV3nf7p
— USU Men’s Hoops (@USUBasketball) March 7, 2026
The Aggies held on for a 94-90 win to earn the No. 1 seed in the Mountain West Men’s Basketball Championships in Las Vegas.
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Brian Preece is a sports.ksl.com insider covering Locals in MLB and the Salt Lake Bees. Follow Brian’s Bees and Beehive baseball here. Find Brian on X, Instagram, and BlueSky at @bpreece24.
