Aggie men’s basketball beats San Jose State 82-65
A balanced offensive effort and a big first half propelled the Utah State men’s basketball team over the San Jose State Spartans 82-65 Saturday in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
Junior forward Kyisean Reed finished with 21 points and eight rebounds, while four other Aggies finished in double figures to lead USU in the victory.
“It got a little scary there in the second half when we had a hard time stopping them off the drive, they are quick and (Spartan guard James) Kinney was having a great night,” USU head coach Stew Morrill said. “We just got a nice spurt there and that was the difference in the game.”
Reed may have led the Aggies in scoring, but it was an important first-half performance from sophomore guard Mitch Bruneel that gave USU (12-10, 4-3 WAC) a big first-half lead before San Jose threatened to take control.
“Mitch gave us a really good lift the way he shot the ball,” senior guard Brockeith Pane said. “I guess him not playing Thursday must have upset him. I guess he must have spent some extra time in the gym by himself, and you could tell.”
Bruneel, who didn’t log any minutes against Hawaii on Thursday and hasn’t played much in the past seven games, checked into the game for fellow sophomore Danny Berger, four minutes into the game, and made an immediate impact.
“It is always nice to see a guy like Mitch, who hasn’t got to play a whole lot lately but has practiced pretty well, and that is what gave me some confidence in putting him in,” Morrill said. “And, boy, did he respond when we really needed some shots in the first half. That was good to see.”
Morrill said he could have easily put in another guard — E.J. Farris, instead of Bruneel — but “it was a gut feeling to give Mitch a chance, and sometimes those work out.”
A layup from San Jose State (7-15, 0-7) junior forward Wil Carter cut USU’s lead 17-15 before Bruneel hit four consecutive 3-pointers as part of a 12-5 run, spanning nearly three minutes.
“It felt good just from the beginning of the game and warming up,” Bruneel said. “It just felt like I could shoot the ball. I was just confident with my game. That’s what Coach expects of us, to be confident with our game. When he sees that, you get more minutes.”
A 3-point play from Reed the old-fashioned way gave USU its biggest lead in the waning seconds of the first half, and USU’s 47 points in that half were a season high.
Despite USU’s big first half, San Jose State didn’t go quietly away. A 3-pointer from freshman guard D.J. Brown cut USU’s lead 54-53 with 13:37 to play, but the Spartans failed to take the lead on the next possession as Kinney missed a layup.
“They came in the second half and made a run at us,” Pane said. “Every team does that. That’s a pretty well-coached team. We couldn’t stop the one guy, No. 33 (Kinney). He was killing us — giving us a lot of moves. He’s a good player.”
A layup from senior guard Calvin Douglas cut USU’s lead 61-59 with 8:37 left to play, but the Aggies would respond again as a layup from Morgan Grim sparked a 13-0 run.
“Coach told us we had to do two things: rebound and guard penetration,” Pane said. “At times we did that. In the second half we kind of let down. We were fortunate enough to fight back and get the win.”
USU recorded a season-low six turnovers and a season-high assist-to-turnover ratio with 19 assists to six turnovers. The Aggies out-rebounded the Spartans — the ninth time this season — 38-30. USU also shot a season-high 88.9 percent (16 of 18) from the free-throw line.
USU hit eight 3-pointers in the first half and finished 10 of 21 from 3-point range.
“I really think the difference in the game was the 3-point shooting,” San Jose State head coach George Nessman said. “They made 10 out of 21, and we made 5 out of 22. Almost all of the factors in the game — turnovers, rebounds, field-goal percentage — everything else was really close, but that was the deciding factor. They knocked down their threes and won by 17, beating us by 15 at the 3-point line.”
– ty.d.hus@aggiemail.usu.edu