Despite three Trailblazers notching career-high scoring efforts, Utah Tech came out on the short end of an 86-81 nail biter at Utah State on Thursday night inside the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.

How it happened 
The Trailblazers (3-5/0-0 WAC) battled to a 36-36 draw in a riveting first half that saw six ties and 16 lead changes in the opening 20 minutes of play.  
 
Utah Tech, which shot 52.2 percent (12-of-23/5-9 3FG) in the first half, matched its in-state foes shot-for-shot thanks in large part to the guard line of Cameron Gooden and Noa Gonsalves, who combined for 28 of UT's 36.
 
Gooden, who came into Thursday's game as UT's leading scorer at 16.1 ppg, poured in 20 first half points on 7-of-8 shooting, including 3-of-3 beyond the arc. Meanwhile Gonsalves added eight on 3-of-5 shooting with two 3-pointers. 
 
The Blazers picked up right where they left off to open the second half, but this time it was forward Jacob Nicolds who got the ball rolling as he hit a trey and banked home a highlight-reel reverse lay-up to give UT its largest lead of the night at 41-36.

Utah State (6-0) quickly countered with nine-straight points, hitting on 4-of-4 from the floor in that stretch, to wrestle the lead back at 45-41.

UT followed that with a Dancell Leter bucket and an Isaiah Pope 3-pointer to jump back on top 46-45. The two sides then traded scores until the Blazers led for the final time at 52-50 after two Gonsalves free throws with 11:46 to play.
 
Utah State took the lead for good with a 17-5 run, spurred on by three of the Aggies' 13 made 3-pointers on the night, to bolt out to their biggest lead of the game at 67-57 with 6:43 remaining.
 
However the Trailblazers did not go quietly as Leter knocked down a pair of charity tosses and Gooden nailed his fourth trey of the game to cut the deficit in half at 67-62.
 
Unfortunately Utah Tech could not draw any closer as the Aggies made some key shots down the stretch and hit their free throws late to escape with the hard fought home win.
 
Numbers to know
Gooden finished with a career-high 29 points on 9-of-16 shooting, including a 5-of-7 clip from 3-point country. The senior guard also dished out five assists and pulled down three rebounds.

Gooden's 29 points marked the third time in his last four starts that he tallied 20 or more points, which included his previous career high of 27 in UT's road win at Idaho (11/19). Meanwhile Gooden's nine made field goals and five 3-pointers also tied career highs.
 
Leter tied a career high with 17 points, with 13 of those points coming after halftime. Leter went 5-of-6 from the floor and 6-of-8 at the foul line, and added four boards, three assists and two steals to his final stat line.
 
Gonsalves wound up with a career-high 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting with three made treys, which tied his career high. 
 
Utah Tech shot 48.1 percent on the night (25-of-52) and knocked down a season-high 12 3-pointers (12-of-23 – season-high 52.2 percent) on its way to a season-high tying 81 points (81 at Idaho; 11/19).  

The Trailblazers connected on 19-of-24 (.792) at the foul line and managed to outrebound Utah State, 30-29. 
 
Aggie guard Steven Ashworth, who came into Thursday's game ranked second in the NCAA Division I ranks in 3-pointers per game (4.00), hit seven from downtown en route to 27 points to lead four Aggies in double figures. 
 
Utah State finished with 13 made treys (13-of-31; .419) for the game, which was right on its season average (12.8 3FG/game) that is also ranked second in the Division-I. The Aggies shot 54.5 percent overall (30-of-55), including a 62.1 percent clip (18-of-29) in the second half. 

The game wound up featuring 10 ties and 24 total lead changes.
 
Of Note
Thursday's game in Logan served as a Homecoming for Head Coach Jon Judkins, who graduated from Utah State with a Bachelor's degree in Physical Education in 1988. Judkins was part of the Aggie program for three seasons, and was one of two Aggies in program history to post a triple-double (11 pts/11 rbs/10 asts vs. Pacific [3/5/88]). During the 1987-88 season, he helped lead USU to a PCAA championship and an NCAA Tournament bid.
 
Up next
Utah Tech concludes its seven-game road odyssey this Saturday night, Dec. 3, with its first-ever trip to Ogden to play at in-state foe Weber State. Tip-off inside the Dee Events Center is scheduled for 7 p.m.