Ags squeak by ‘dogs
Playing on the road Thursday night for the first time since a 30-point loss at New Mexico State, the Utah State Aggies relied on a good start to lead the way against the Fresno State Bulldogs in Fresno, Calif for a 77-72 win.
The Aggies were led in the first half by the two senior guards, Jaycee Carroll and Kris Clark.
Carrol made three 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes to total 11 points to go along with six rebounds. Clark came out firing and scored in double figures for the half. Clark shot 4-for-5 from the field tototal 10 points, in addition to dishing out three assist in the opening half.
For the game, Clark ended up with 16 points, five rebounds and five assists. Carroll ended with 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting, including 6-of-9 from beyond the 3-point line.
After falling behind 2-0 very early on, the Aggies used a 8-0 run to gain the lead and looked to have the game under control.
At one point in the first half, the Aggies extended their lead to 17 before closing the half with a lead of 14 at 39-25.
In the second half, the Bulldogs used a barrage of 3-pointers to trim the Aggie lead all the way down to five at 65-60 with just under six minutes left to play.
Fresno State made made 10-of-14 on 3-pointers in the second half. After a timeout with 3:56 left in the game, the Aggies clung to a five-point lead at 67-62.
A Carroll jumper and a Gary Wilkinson 3-bomb extended the Aggie lead back to 10 at 72-62 and Utah State looked to have the game wrapped up. The Bulldogs wouldn’t go away and over the next minute and a half got the game back to three points off a Kevin Bell steal and assist to Eddie Miller for a 3-pointer to cut the Aggie lead to three.
After another turnover, Miller had a look from behind the arc that would have tied the game.
Miller’s shot rimmed out, and with that miss the Aggies were able to make 3-of-4 free throws in the final 30 seconds to hang on for victory.
Utah State shot 59.1 percent from the free-throw line.
-sam.bryner@aggiemail.usu.edu