Carroll leads Ags past Louisiana Tech, Millsap

on to a 68-64 win over Louisiana Tech in semifinals of the Western Athletic Conference tournament.

The win set up the tournament title match between USU and Nevada, which the Wolf Pack won 70-63 in overtime.

Nate Harris finished with 18 points to lead the Aggies while David Pak had 14 and Carroll 13.

Despite being out-rebounded by the Bulldogs in their first two meetings, the Aggies pulled down 31 boards to LTU’s 30.

“We had a hard time trying to rebound against them the first two games,” Head Coach Stew Morrill said. “That stat jumped out that we were able to keep up with them.”

Harris had seven rebounds and Carroll had six – three of them offensive.

Carroll said he owes his rebounds to his teammates that were guarding Bulldog big-man Paul Millsap.

“It they weren’t boxing him out every play, I wouldn’t have been able to get that many,” he said. “My job is to play safety. I’m not supposed to have any offensive rebounds.”

Morrill said he was pleased with the play of Pak.

“He got to the rim,” he said. “He stayed aggressive. He took some tough shots at times, but he was able to make them tonight.”

Pak said he had way too many turnovers in the previous few games, so he had to forget about them.

“I felt comfortable out there,” he said. “I felt fresh and relaxed.”

Morrill said even though his team had played two games in two nights, he did not think fatigue would be an issue for the championship game.

“You go along and get recharged,” he said. “The situation energizes us. I’ll be very surprised if we don’t play with a lot of energy.”

Morrill said although he thought his team was worthy of it, he was not listening to what the experts were saying about USU getting an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

“We listened to that stuff two years ago and I think it screwed us up,” he said.

In 2004, the Aggies finished the regular season with a 25-2 record and were ranked in the top 20 nationally, but lost their first Big West tournament game to Cal-State Northridge and did not receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu