Aggies pick up win at Louisiana Tech
After a disappointing loss last Thursday, the Utah State men’s basketball team rebounded with a 63-62 win over Louisiana Tech on the road to move into first place in the Western Athletic Conference.
Jaycee Carroll hit five 3-pointers and led the Aggies with 19 points and Durrall Peterson scored the final five points for USU.
With the win, the Aggies improved to 16-5 on the season and 7-3 in conference play. USU, LTU and Nevada each have identical conference records, but the Aggies have won all three games they have played with those opponents, so they hold the tie-breaking edge.
The Aggies led 58-56 in the final minutes when Peterson hit a 3-pointer to put the Aggies up by five. LTU responded with four-straight points before fouling Peterson with 11.7 seconds remaining.
Peterson then hit both shots from the charity stripe to put USU up 63-60.
Paul Millsap tipped in a missed 3-point shot for the Bulldogs with 2.3 seconds left to cut their deficit to one, but it was too little, too late.
Millsap led LTU with 25 points and 12 rebounds. Jerome Richardson was also in double figures with 11 points.
The Aggies led by as many as 15 points in the first half and led 38-25 at halftime.
But the Bulldogs wouldn’t go quietly.
LTU started the second half on a 13-4 run and then went on another 14-3 run to take a 54-53 lead with fewer than 10 minutes to play.
But on the Aggies’ next possession, Chaz Spicer would get fouled and make a spinning layup for a 3-point play to give the Aggies the lead for good.
USU shot 14-of-18 from the field in the first half, including 6-of-8 from 3-point range.
The Aggies also equaled the Bulldogs in rebounds in the half.
But the Bulldog defense would stiffen in the second half, allowing the Aggies to shoot only 8-for-21 and LTU out-rebounded USU 23-8 after the break.
The Aggies will return home this week to face the New Mexico State Aggies Saturday in the Spectrum.
USU lost to NMSU last Thursday 93-86 on the road in Las Cruces, N. M.
-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu