4 Ags suspended

USU men’s basketball coach Stew Morrill suspended four players Saturday before Utah State took on the New Mexico State Aggies in Las Cruces, N.M.

Senior forward Stephen DuCharme, junior Desmond Stephens, and freshmen guards Pooh Williams and Jaxon Myaer were sent home for an undiscolsed violation of team rules.

Without them, NMSU won, 100-70.

All but Myaer-who is in his redshirt year-have seen playing time this season. The other three average a combined 15.9 points per game. DuCharme and Stephens have been in every game, while Williams has seen time in 16 games.

Perhaps the most significant absence was that of DuCharme, whose 5.8 rebounds-per-game average was sorely missed. NMSU won the battle of the boards Saturday, 38-25.

Could DuCharme, Williams and Stephens been the difference for USU?

“When you get beat by 30 it’s hard to say,” Morrill said in a radio interview. “That’s really a cop out. If you get beat by six or eight you can say it might have been different. So, no. That’s not disrespect to those kids that aren’t here. We got thumped. Our guys were, if anything, jacked up and ready to play. I don’t think emotionally it affected our guys at all.”

In DuCharme’s absence, freshman Matt Formisano got into the game and scored eight points on 3-of-6 shooting.

“It was unfortunate how it happened,” Formisano said. “But we had to say, ‘Hey we’re not going to use this as an excuse and do the best we can with what we have.'”

Formisano said playing time is nice, but more important is the success of the team.

-samuel.hislop@aggiemail.usu.edu