LOGAN, Utah — Matt Gibson did not have a very good experience the last time he visited Utah State's Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.

He more than made up for it this time around.

Unfortunately for the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team, Gibson's 25 points were not enough in an 86-80 loss to the Aggies in the Western Athletic Conference opener for both teams yesterday.

"He's our spirited leader, he's the guy that can put a lot of pressure on the defense with his speed and quickness," Hawai'i head coach Bob Nash said of Gibson. "Tonight we allowed him to do that and he made his shots and did a good job of running the club.

"He stayed pretty much in our system, just ran our offense the way we had drawn it up. We got the ball to the shooters, but there was a spell there where we went a little dry and they got some runouts."

Gibson shot 7 for 11 from the field and handed out a season-high eight assists.

"I just came out, tried to play hard, tried to be a good leader and tried to find our shooters," said Gibson, who scored just four points in 28 minutes of action last year in Logan.

Three other Rainbow Warriors scored double-figure points. Bobby Nash scored 19, including five 3-pointers, Riley Luettgerodt scored 16 and Jared Dillinger 12.

"Give Hawai'i all the credit, they did a great job," Utah State head coach Stew Morrill said. "We didn't really stop anyone. I mean Gibson had 25 and Nash was burying 3s."

Hawai'i (4-9, 0-1 WAC) shot 47.4 percent from the field and out-rebounded Utah State (11-5, 1-0) 28-24. The 'Bows also made a season-high 10 3-pointers.

"We hit big shots," Gibson said. "Our shooters were knocking down shots, we were getting to the rim. I wish we could've got to the free-throw line a little bit more. That was the difference in the game, is how many free throws they shot as opposed to how many we shot.

"Credit them for executing their stuff and staying with it and grinding it out and getting to the free-throw line."

The Aggies went to the line 41 times — 23 more than Hawai'i — and made 31. The 'Bows went 16 of 18.

The Aggies also shot 61.0 percent from the field.

"We kept fouling them in in-opportune times and we weren't playing smart defense," Bobby Nash said. "But there's a lot to learn from this. We beat them on the boards and we were still in the game. They shot a staggering (61.0) percent from the field. We should've been blown out, but we weren't. We only lost by six."

Utah State guard Jaycee Carroll scored 26 points — five above his WAC-leading average — but the Aggies got a bigger lift from freshman forward Tai Wesley, who led all scorers with 27. He was averaging just 7.9 points per game coming into the game.

"We had a couple of breakdowns on defense that really cost us," Gibson said. "We let one of their guys that really wasn't a big-time scorer step up and score a lot of points."

Hawai'i's last lead of the game was 33-32 with 2:46 remaining in the first half. The Aggies took a 36-33 lead at halftime. The 'Bows got within one on three occasions in the second half, but could never regain the lead.

A fade-away jumper by Luettgerodt brought Hawai'i to 65-63 with 7:12 remaining. However, USU went on a 15-5 run to open an 80-68 lead with 47 seconds left.

"We just have to build on this," Bob Nash said. "We go on the road, play against one of the top teams in the conference and be in a position where we can potentially win the game. I think that speaks well for us being able to go on the road and play against some of the other WAC teams."

Hawai'i, which is 0-3 on the road, will depart Logan today for another WAC road game tomorrow at San Jose State.

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