Aggies run away from Spartans
The Utah State men’s basketball team weathered a slow start to beat San Jose State 76-54 on Monday in front of a small crowd of 1,311.
The game was the first one for the Aggies in eight days and took their record to 15-10 on the season and 8-5 in the Mountain West.
“We did come out a little rusty from those days off,” said senior forward Sean Harris. “Once it started going, we started kicking it into another gear, and we started rolling.”
The Aggies and the Spartans battled back and forth for much of the first half. Neither team held an advantage larger than five points for the first 13 and a half minutes of play.
However, with 5:47 left in the first half, junior guard Darius Perkins was ejected following a scramble for the ball. Utah State would go on an 11-1 run immediately following the event, which boosted them into halftime with a 40-27 lead.
“I think that kind of sparked us,” Harris said. “It’s kind of quiet in here, and it got our energy going at least knowing that our favorite player was out, one of our best players, one of our leaders in Darius. So we wanted to play for him and keep it going even when he wasn’t on the court.”
Head coach Stew Morrill wasn’t convinced that was the reason for the spark.
“I don’t know if that was coincidence or what happened there, they were more aggressive than us,” Morrill said. “We hadn’t played in eight days, and it showed at the start of the game. Our guys did what they needed to do.”
Utah State’s bench outscored the Spartan bench 21-3, led by Harris’ nine points.
“I thought Sean Harris was really active in the second half. I told him in the first half that we needed him to give us more energy because we were lacking some energy out there,” Morrill said.
Sophomore forward Jalen Moore led the Aggies in points with 20, followed by junior guard Chris Smith who grabbed 17 points for himself.
The loss for the Spartans continued their 15-game losing streak. Utah State beat San Jose State 61-33 in Logan on Dec. 31.
“These games are hard because you’re supposed to win. You’re supposed to win by quite a bit, and you’ve still got to play. You don’t just automatically get to win. You have to play,” Morrill said.
Utah State returns home to play Fresno State on Saturday. The Aggies lost in Fresno on Jan. 7 by a score of 61-52.
“I hope we’re ready to play a little better than we did in Fresno because if we don’t, we’ll get beat again,” Morrill said.
Utah State is currently in fifth place of the Mountain West, while Fresno State is one game behind them in sixth.
— dahdahjm@gmail.com