Sweet Revenge

Durrall Peterson erupted for 23 points and Stew Morrill won his 100th game in the Spectrum Monday night as the Aggies ran away from the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders 79-61.

Peterson hit six of the seven 3-point shots he took.

“It’s enjoyable,” he said. “It’s always good to hear there crowd go crazy. It makes me want to go jump in the crowd, but you have to stay on the court.”

Morrill said Peterson is becoming a powerful weapon for the Aggies.

“It’s nice to have another shooter,” he said. “He and Jaycee [Carroll] spread the defense out well.”

Nate Harris had 18 points and 10 rebounds to record his first double-double of the year and the Aggies out-scored the Blue Raiders 44-28 in the second half for a big win.

“That’s the kind of basketball we’ve come to love around here,” Harris said. “That fact that we were more aggressive and had better rebounding shows why we were able to win.”

Harris said the reason he and Peterson did so well was because MTSU couldn’t double-team both of them.

“We got good looks for Durrall off the double-team in the post,” he said. “Then we’d catch them in positions when they couldn’t double and it gave me good looks.”

USU was getting out-rebounded 17-11 at halftime, but finished with two more boards than the Blue Raiders. Morrill said getting rebounds in the second half was key for USU.

“That’s something we talked about at the half,” he said. “We have a good offense. If we can grow on defense and on the boards, we’ll be a real good team.”

The win avenges a loss for USU against the same MTSU team on Nov. 21 in Murfreesboro, Tenn., where the Aggies lost by only one point. Morrill said the biggest difference in the two games was that the Blue Raiders got tired in the second half Monday.

“We didn’t play bad back there [in Tennessee],” he said. “And they hung with us here for 25 minutes. They got tired. It was the end of a road trip for them.”

Morrill now has a 100-9 record at the Spectrum.

“It’s better than 100 losses,” he said. “It’s a great home venue. It’s a great place for college basketball. We really sell in our recruiting that it is a home-court advantage.”

Morrill said it is encouraging to see bigger crowds showing up to watch his team play.

“If you look around college basketball, a lot of places are going down, so we’re thankful,” he said.

With 4:07 to play in the first half, Peterson converted a rare four-point play. He was fouled shooting a 3-point shot that went in. He then made the extra free throw to turn a two-point Aggie deficit into a two-point Aggie lead.

“That was nice,” he said. “It was one of those things where you know you’re on fire, you shoot it and someone hits you.”

Carroll started the game missing four of his first five shots, but still finished with 17 points. Cass Matheus added another nine points.

-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu