Ags continue win streak
No. 19 Utah State became the first nationally-ranked team to play in the Matadome in Northridge, Calif. Thursday and consequently became the first ranked team to win there, beating CSU Northridge 69-47.
Led by a career-high 25 points from senior point guard Mark Brown the Ags extended their consecutive wins to 17 and improved to 20-1 overall and 12-0 in Big West Conference play.
“[Twenty wins] is an accomplishment for any basketball team,” Utah State Head Coach Stew Morrill said. “To get it in only 21 games is, quite honestly, a little bit unbelievable. We’ve been real fortunate.”
The Matadors jumped out to a 4-0 lead to start the game, but faltered early on and the Ags capitalized.
Over the next nine minutes, Utah State went on a 20-5 run, despite double-digit turnovers in the first half, and at the break, the Ags held a 35-18 lead.
Northridge came out energized in the second half and, after trailing by as much as 23, narrowed the gap to 45-34.
“They didn’t lay down,” USU junior Spencer Nelson said. “They came out and switched things up [defensively] and that slowed us a down.”
But the 11-point differential would be as close as the Matadors would get. Fueled by 16 second half points from Brown and USU domination on the boards (36-16) including 11 rebounds from Nelson, the Ags pulled away for good.
“We were active on the glass,” Morrill said. “In the first half, defensively and rebounding, we were alive and energized.”
Cardell Butler added 12 points for the Ags and sophomore forward Nate Harris contributed 14 points and a career-high 13 rebounds for his third double-double in his last four games.
Utah State turned the ball over a season-high 26 times Thursday night, but Morrill said he did not want to over-analyze the victory.
“Road wins are hard to come by,” Morrill said. “And if you happen to win by 20 plus [points] that’s really hard to come by, so you just feel fortunate about it.”
For Northridge, Eto Onyenegecha led the way with 12 points and three rebounds on the night. Thomas Shewmake and Davin White also scored in double digits, with 11 and 10 points respectively.
In 38 minutes of play for the Matadors, Ian Boylan, who came into Thursday ‘s match-up averaging 13.1 points, was held to only two points on 1-of-13 shooting from the floor.
The Aggies travel to Stockton, Calif. for a matchup with second-place Pacific (16-7, 11-1) on Saturday night.
“It’ll be an interesting scene Saturday night,” Morrill said. “There haven’t been many people that have gone into Pacific this year and even played with them. We know what we’re up against.”
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