Road not a kind place for Ags
Who would have thunk it?
Just when the Utah State men’s basketball team looked as if it was back to dominating the Big West Conference, the Aggies were given a reality check by UC Riverside.
Yes, UC Riverside.
The Highlanders earned an unexpected 72-65 come-from-behind victory Saturday in California. The win marked the first time in six tries that UCR had come out on top against Utah State.
The loss dropped the Aggies to third in the BWC, one game behind UC Irvine and a half a game behind UC Santa Barbara. The Anteaters knocked off Pacific 78-73 in Irvine Saturday.
Possibly more impressive than the simple fact that the Highlanders stunned the Aggies, they did it in style. UCR missed its first nine shots, falling behind 11-0 early.
To come back, Riverside finished the game 11-for-18 from three-point range and recorded nine steals.
“They made a lot of shots,” Utah State Head Coach Stew Morrill said to reporters following the game. “I thought they played really well. You try and figure out the things we didn’t do, but you’ve got to give them credit.
“They were definitely the aggressors. We seemed to run out of steam in the second half. We didn’t seem to have enough energy.”
Or maybe the Aggies were slightly overconfident in the second half. Utah State led 32-27 at the break, but felt the wrath of freshman Nate Carter who scored a game-high 25 points.
Desmond Penigar led the Aggies with 17 points and seven rebounds.
“They were just shooting the lights out,” Penigar told reporters. “They came through. I don’t know what else to say. We didn’t play our ball.”
With a 7-0 run, the Highlanders took a 53-43 lead with 9:43 left in the game. The advantage was stretched out to 11 after a trey by Carter.
The Aggies came within five points with 1:12 remaining after a jumper by Mark Brown, but the Highlanders were able to ice the game after a lay-up by Ted Bell and a turnover by Brown.
Bell finished the night with 13 points.
According to an article in the Deseret News, Riverside coach John Masi described the win over the Aggies as the biggest his program has seen since moving up to Division I basketball two seasons ago.
Going into the game, the Highlanders had only recorded five wins, none of which came against teams contending for the league title.
While the victory was a boost of confidence for UCR, the loss made USU realize exactly what it was playing for.
“A huge opportunity missed. We really let one slip right here,” said USU center Spencer Nelson. “All we can do now is get mad about it and go home and finish strong before the Big West tournament — take care of business on our home court.”
–juag@cc.usu.edu