Utah State basketball player Mason Falslev celebrates with the crowd at the Spectrum. Photo by Triston Hartfiel. LOGAN — Outside of a truly dominant opening four minutes against Northwest Nazarene on Saturday, Utah State struggled to live up to some of the great play seen of the Aggies in recent games. Despite that struggle, USU was able to dispatch the Nighthawks by a score of 84-53. “This game was way closer than the score,” USU head coach Danny Sprinkle said. “Sometimes our athleticism or their turnovers led to our easy points. But if they cut down some of those, I mean, it’s a lot closer game. They’ve got a good team.” Those first four minutes, though, were a sight to behold though as the Aggies rode out to a 19-2 lead. Northwest Nazarene didn’t make a field goal in that span, missing each of its first eight shots while USU started 8 of 11 from the field. But while the Aggies scored 19 points in just over four minutes, they would go scoreless over a nearly identical timespan immediately following the great start. Utah State missed four straight shots and had a couple of turnovers which gave the Nighthawks some

LOGAN — The Aggies are reaching an early peak of their season, having attained a seven-game win streak and are a win against a Division II school, Northwest Nazarene, away from getting that streak to eight games. Obviously, the team hopes this will not be the peak of the year as head coach Danny Sprinkle is taking every possible opportunity to say there’s a lot tougher things coming (and given the NET ranks of fellow Mountain West schools, no one can blame him). But for now, Utah State will have to be content with extending its winning streak and matching last year’s 9-1 start. The very first time this Aggie team officially played together was against a Division II team, South Dakota Mines. That game went about as well as one could hope, a 53-point victory. Eight games later, USU is shaping into a team with an identity that reflects that game-one dominance — a hard-nosed defensive team with a highly efficient offense. Utah State has far less to prove in this “buy game,” and for Northwest Nazarene, it’s actually an exhibition on its schedule. But it’s not going to be a game where Sprinkle is going to let up on his