Aggies look to fill void down low

When Tim Duryea got his first regular season win on Friday night, he did it without preseason top-scorer David Collette.

The Aggies beat in-state rival the Weber State Wildcats 73-70 in Ogden.

“It feels great,” Duryea said after the game. “My suits a little wet, they threw some water on me in the locker room, but I’ll take that every time. It’s been a long week, and that was a great win.”

The long week started with a loss to Div. II Cal State Monterrey Bay on Nov. 6 then, just two days before the start of the regular season, Collette quit the program.

“We had a lot of adversity before this game,” said senior guard Chris Smith. “With losing Dave and the D-II loss. That just fired us up even more.”

Duryea said the win was what Aggie nation needed.

“This was much-needed for that group of kids,” Duryea said. “It was much-needed for our staff and much-needed for our fans. That was what the doctor ordered. Our guys did a really good job.”

The departure of Collette left Elston Jones and Lew Evans to fill in for him.

While Jones got the start against Weber State, Evans ended up playing more time and had more points. Evans finished with an efficient 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting, hitting one 3-point shot and converting 2-of-5 free throws. He also grabbed five rebounds.

“They stepped up big time,” Smith said. “They both had to put their games up tenfold. I’m so glad they could do that with David suddenly leaving the team. We needed them.”

Jones played just as well as Evans. He had six points on 3-of-5 shooting and had four rebounds. Foul trouble kept Jones sidelined for much of the second half however, and he eventually fouled out leaving Evans to finish the game.

“I was so proud of Elston Jones to start the game,” Duryea said. “He played with total confidence. He caught the ball on the block and really made some authoritative post moves going towards the basket… With the spotlight being on that position, I thought he was tremendous.”

Both Evans and Jones were in early foul trouble and freshman Quinn Taylor jumped into the rotation. Taylor played five minutes and scored his first two points as an Aggie.

Overall, the entire team filled in for the absence Collette. Smith led the team in scoring with 19 points. Senior guard Darius Perkins nailed a 3-point shot with 10 minutes left that gave the Aggies the lead. Junior Jalen Moore contributed nine points and seven rebounds.

Newcomer Shane Rector answered the call from the point guard position pouring in 15 points including two free throws with 15 seconds to play that put the game on ice. Rector also had five assists, three steals and three rebounds.

“We stuck together as a team, as a brotherhood,” Rector said. “We couldn’t just sulk all night. We came out, we played hard and did what we had to do.”

— kalen.s.taylor@gmail.com
Twitter: @kalen_taylor