LOGAN, Utah – In what perhaps will be their toughest non-conference matchup of the season, the North Carolina A&T men's basketball team saw some positive signs toward getting better before Utah State pulled away with an 81-54 win at the Spectrum in the battle of two schools nicknamed Aggies.

Three Aggies scored in double figures led by senior Ronald Jackson who finished with 15 points and seven rebounds. Freshman Fred Cleveland, Jr., came off the bench to score a season-high 14 and junior Tyler Maye finished with 10 points on 5-for-12 shooting.

The defeat moved N.C. A&T's overall record to 1-3.

“We didn't get the job done tonight but we definitely played hard for 40 minutes. Utah State is a really good team,” said N.C. A&T coach Jay Joyner. This is probably the best non-conference opponent we'll face this season. We went toe-to-toe with them for about 30 minutes, so we've just got to build on that.”

N.C. A&T struggled out of the gate, falling behind 38-23 heading into halftime.

N.C. A&T narrowed its deficit to 40-28 before going on a 5-0 run, finished off by Ron Jackson's layup, to shrink the deficit to 40-33 with 14:51 to go in the contest. The Aggies eventually got the lead to six on a Cleveland 3-pointer that made it 42-36 with 14 minutes to play. Utah State responded with a 9-0 run to extend their lead to 15. The closest the Aggies got the rest of the way was 12.

“We came in here and played hard,” said Joyner. “Even though we didn't walk away with the ultimate goal, the win, it's early November. We've got to continue to get better as far as competing and getting the job done.”

N.C. A&T forced 15 Utah State turnovers while committing 14 themselves. The Aggies turned those takeaways into nine points on the offensive end of the floor. Webster Filmore led the way individually with three steals.

“To win a game like this you've got to play your A-game and we only played our B or C game,” said Joyner. “We have to continue to work on protecting the basketball. But again, we have to trust the process and keep working.”

The Aggies big road swing continues with a game in Dallas, Texas against North Texas, Friday, Nov. 19 at 8 p.m.