Aggies snag second win over Spartans
The final score doesn’t show it, but Saturday night’s USU men’s basketball game was a tight one.
The Aggies ended up upending the WAC cellar-dweller San Jose State Spartans, 66-57, in front of 8,484 fans in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
“That game was exactly what we expected,” Aggie Head Coach Stew Morrill said. “They don’t get dominated. They play tough. It’s a good win for us. That’s probably the largest margin of victory we’ve had (against them).”
Though the Aggies (16-7, 5-4 in WAC play) never lost their lead in the final 16 minutes of the ballgame, the Spartans kept the score respectable, and, for the most part, were still threatening to take the lead up until the four-minute mark.
That’s when Aggie forward Durrall Peterson took a Jaycee Carroll pass and drained a 3-pointer with 2:59 remaining, stretching what was a five-point advantage to eight.
On the other side of the floor, Carroll stole the ball and was fouled on his fast-break layup attempt.
Carroll made one of two free throws to put USU up 64-55 with 2:35 to go and put away the Spartans at the same time.
The Spartans, who dropped to 2-8 in WAC play and 3-19 overall, lost another close one to the Aggies Jan. 20 in California, 56-57.
The Spartans also trailed the majority of the first half Saturday night, thanks in large part to a 37.5 percent shooting performance. The Aggies led by as many as 10 points while hitting nearly 48 percent of their shots.
Then came the final two minutes. Down by two, SJSU’s Tim Pierce drained a 3-pointer to push the Spartans ahead by one. With 38 seconds left, Carlton Spencer put in another trey to stretch the Spartan lead to four.
The lead was trimmed to one on a Durrall Peterson 3-pointer with 12 seconds left in the half.
“We had last-three-minute jitters,” said Aggie forward Stephen DuCharme, who led all scorers with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting. “[But] the first 12 minutes we had really good chemistry, [and] we finished the second half strong. That’s what counts.”
Three other Aggies scored in double figures.
Peterson tallied 13 points and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the free-throw line. Chaz Spicer chipped in 12 points and pulled down five rebounds, while making all five of his charity-stripe attempts.
Carroll, with whom the Aggies are perfect this year when he scores 20 or more, only scored 11 to go along with six rebounds and four assists.
Forward Chris Session was the leader on the glass with 10 rebounds and two blocks.
The Spartans also had four double-figure scorers.
Menelik Barbary, Spencer and Pierce each had 13 points. Jamon Hill chipped in 11 points, four rebounds and six assists.
NMSU visiting Monday night
History supports USU in this match-up, but Morrill and the Aggies aren’t na’ve enough to think a win against the New Mexico State Aggies will come without a near-perfect performance.
USU leads the all-time series against NMSU 27-22, including a 17-7 mark against them in the Spectrum.
But the southern Aggies (18-4, 8-1) are right at the top of the WAC with former NBA star Reggie Theus leading them for the second year, and thus far are the only other WAC team to have defeated the Top-25 Nevada Wolf Pack.
NMSU surprised a packed Spectrum last Feb. 11 with a 83-77 win over USU.
“Their talent level is amazing,” Morrill said. “They will come in here very confident. It’s a real challenge for us to try to play with them.”
DuCharme agreed but pointed out the WAC is a close conference.
“This WAC is so competitive,” he said. “It’s fun. Home, away, nothing is for sure.”
Only a day of rest will be allotted to USU.
“It sucks,” DuCharme said. “We’ll do what we can with the time we have.”
-sbhislop@cc.usu.edu