Long Beach comes up short
The Aggie basketball team opened up its three-game home stretch with a win over the Long Beach 49ers 68-52 Thursday.
Still, the game might have meant more to the 49ers as they are fighting to earn a berth into the conference tournament in two weeks.
“Not a pretty game,” USU head coach Stew Morrill said. “Not a great game for the fans but a win for the Ags.”
Spencer Nelson scored 16 and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Aggies.
Cass Matheus started for the first time this season, scoring 14 and giving the Aggies a much taller lineup. Matheus also helped forwards Nate Harris and Nelson have more open space to work with in Utah State’s offensive sets.
Morrill said he needed to get Matheus more minutes and the only way to do that was to start him.
“It gives us a different look with a bigger line-up with Spencer at the three,” Harris said.
“They had a nice game plan,” Morrill said. “Run the clock a little bit and get us out of rhythm. It was a game that never had much flow.”
For three minutes in the first half Long Beach State was stalling to help run the clock. Within those three minutes the 49ers managed to cut the lead from 11 to just three, which was as close as they got.
“They did a good job of taking the air out of the ball,” Nelson said. “They did a good job of changing the pace of the game. Give them credit they tried to stay in the game.”
Even with the slow flow of the game, the Aggies had four starters score in double figures. Harris had 15 and Jaycee Carroll had 13 points each to go along with Matheus and Nelson’s totals.
David Pak, the only starter who didn’t score, did have a fundamentally sound night with seven assists and just one turnover. As a team the Aggies had 20 assists and Nelson said the team missed some gimmes, so that number could have been higher.
For Long Beach, Jibril Hodges, the victim of the crowd’s air-ball chant, sunk a 3-pointer and turned to the crowd and made a comment that resulted in a taunting foul.
To further slow the pace of the game, Utah State shot just 42 percent from the line. Morrill said it was like the flu and Nelson said it was contagious. Nelson missed the first free throw of the night on a technical foul shot.
The Aggies are now 20-7 on the season, the sixth straight year with 20 wins.
“I find some significance in that,” Morrill said. “I congratulated the kids and it says some things about how consistent our program has been. They know it’s a good deal and they feel good about it but we need to get some things done a little better.”
Nelson said to get ready for the tournament there are some areas where the Aggies can improve. Each area has a little bit more the Ags can do to get back on track.
The game, even though it was a little different flow wise, was still good for the Ags as they hadn’t come into a game losing two of the last three in a long time, Morrill said.
The 49ers came into the game tied for the eighth spot in the conference and couldn’t pull out the win to help their postseason chances. Meanwhile the Aggies are looking to finish out the final two home games with wins against UC Irvine Saturday and Idaho on Friday, March 4.
At halftime Greg Grant and Brian Jackson were honored for their selections to the All-Century team. Grant’s No. 5 was retired in the Spectrum. He and Wayne Estes are the only two Aggies to receive such honors.
-krn@cc.usu.edu
(Photo by Jessica Alexander)