Broncos deal Aggies first WAC loss of the year
Trailing the entire game, the USU men’s basketball team lost its conference opener 66-77 to Boise State in Boise on Jan. 4.
BSU came out firing and never let up. After only five minutes of play, the Broncos held a commanding 20-4 lead over the Aggies.
“We were fighting an uphill battle,” Head Coach Stew Morrill said. “Boise just out played us in every way you can think of.”
The Aggies were unable to stop the fast-paced offense of the Broncos. Boise State shot 54.9 percent from the field for the game, while the Aggies only shot 37 percent. Another lopsided statistic was the three-point shooting. The Broncos made eight three-pointers while USU managed to only hit one.
The Broncos were led by center Matt Nelson, who scored 18 points, and all-around player Kobe Karl, who had 13.
Junior guard Jaycee Carroll led the Aggies with 18 points. He is now tied with former teammate, Spencer Nelson, for 16th place on the all-time scoring list for USU.
Senior forward Chaz Spicer delivered one of his best performances on the season with 13 points, and junior center Arvydas Vaitiekus scored a career-high six points.
After letting BSU build a 16-point lead, the Aggies put together a nine-point run to cut the lead to seven. They were able to keep it within single digits for most of the half, but the Broncos used a 10-2 run to end the half 38-23.
The second half was more of the same. The Broncos built a 22-point lead and were able to weather a small run by the Aggies at the end of the game to bring the lead back to 10 points.
“We’re going to have to have better all-around play,” Morrill said. “Night in and night out, we are going to be in a battle. You’ve got to believe you can play; that’s just part of basketball. You’ve got to believe you can play the game if you’re going to be successful.”
-wwm@cc.usu.edu