New look Aggies scrape win against Weber State
Utah State men’s basketball team won its season opener 73-70 against in-state rival Weber State on Friday night in Ogden.
The Aggies battled back from a loss to Div. II Cal State Monterrey Bay last week and losing starting forward David Collette just two days ago.
“We had a lot of adversity leading up to this game,” said starting shooting guard Chris Smith. “That just fired us up even more. We kind of lacked a little bit at the end, but I’m just glad that we got the win.”
With just over two minutes to play, USU held a 70-62 lead but WSU didn’t show any quit. The Aggies missed two free throws and the Wildcats’ McKay Cannon got a quick steal and bucket. WSU followed that with two Jeremy Senglin transition layups that brought Weber within one and 16 seconds left in the game.
Shane Rector sealed the game for Utah State by hitting two clutch free throws with 15 seconds to play, giving USU a 73-70 lead. Weber State then missed a 3-point shot and the Aggies won a loose-ball battle as time expired.
“We fought through the storm a little bit, then our guys regained their composure,” said first-year head coach Tim Duryea. “Shane Rector hit two big free throws. I wouldn’t rather have anybody else on the line but him in that situation.
“He’s a clutch free-throw shooter. He’s really confident. He’s made a lot of big shots in his day. He’s a New York City guard,” he said. “Those guys like the big stage. They like the bright lights, and he’s no different. He’s come a long way.”
Rector didn’t start the game but ended up playing more minutes than starting point guard Darius Perkins. Rector finished the game with 15 points, including two of five from behind the arc, five assists and three steals.
“I feel like we were prepared, we came out ready to win,” Rector said. “I think we kept our composure pretty well. Good teams find a way to win, and that’s what we did tonight.”
Smith was the leading Aggie scorer with 19, most of which came on four of five 3-point shooting. Joel Bolomboy paced Weber with 20 points and 12 boards, Senglin matched the game-high 20 points and added five rebounds of his own.
Elston Jones got the start in place of Collette but rotated time with Lew Evans. Jones had six points and three rebounds, Evans scored 17 and grabbed five rebounds.
“That was a big hit for us,” Rector said. “We stuck together as a team, a brotherhood. We knew we weren’t going to have him so we couldn’t sulk all night. We went out there and did what we had to do.”
— kalen.s.taylor@gmail.com
Twitter: @kalen_taylor