Aggie bench comes up big against Bengals
Senior guard Brian Green became the second Utah State Aggie guard to break out of the slump this season in as many games. The Utah native scored 17 points on 6-of-9 from the field and 5-of-7 from the 3-point line to lead the Aggies (9-2) over the Idaho State Bengals (3-7), 71-48, in the opening day of the World Vision Invitational sponsored by Gossner Foods. The Aggies put together their most complete victory of the season, as they played extremely well on both ends of the floor.
“We got ourselves a nice cushion in the first half and that carried us throughout the game,” Morrill said. “I thought we were very unselfish offensively. We made a lot of extra passes. We had 20 assists and nine turnovers. Guys were giving the ball up and not trying to force things. It was a good effort offensively and we were good defensively in the first half.”
The Aggies had no problem with offense in the first half, and but it was their defense that took over midway through the first half. The Aggies finished the first half on a 19-5 run behind the hot shooting of Green, who went 4-of-4 from 3-point land in the first half.
“I thought our bench production was good,” Morrill said. “It’s nice to have guys like Brady (Jardine) and Brian (Green) coming off the bench giving us energy, giving us production. Both those guys had good games. It was nice to have some guys make shots and play well when some of the starters were having a little trouble getting some down.”
The Aggies’ bench out-scored the Bengals’ bench 40-15. Jardine nearly missed a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds, while James Walker scored five points and dished out three assists.
“Me and Brady take a lot of pride coming off the bench and doing whatever we have to get the team going,” Green said.
Despite the Aggies 16-point halftime lead, the Bengals did not give up in the second half. The Bengals leading scorer Broderick Gilchrest, who only scored five first half points, erupted for 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field and 2-of-4 shooting from 3-point land.
“They only missed five shots in the second half,” Morrill said of the Bengals. “They came out and played pretty well offensively.”
As a team the Bengals shot 68 percent from the floor and 66 percent from 3-point land in the second half, but the Aggies limited the Bengals possessions by forcing them to go deep into the shot clock.
“We’re going to have games where we shoot it well and we’re going to have games where we don’t shoot it as well, and that’s where your defense has got to carry you,” Morrill said. “Defense and rebounding has been pretty solid so far for this team and hopefully it will continue.”
The Aggies now prepare for the Western Michigan Broncos (5-5), who fell to the Troy Trojans (2-9), 102-99 in overtime during game one of the opening day of the Gossner Foods sponsored World Vision Invitational. Freshman Juwan Howard led the Broncos with 24 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field and 5-of-8 from long distance.
“We had him as more of a driver in our scouting report,” Morrill said. “He made six 3’s. We better change our scouting report, but he looks like an awfully good freshman. The big guy (Matt Stainbrook) inside is a load. They do a lot of different things with ball screens. They press you a little bit. They run a lot of sets. It will be short prep for us.”
The Trojans will face the Bengals at 5:30 p.m. and the Aggies will face the Broncos 30 minutes after the conclusion of that game. Tip-off between the Aggies and Broncos is set for 8:05 p.m. tonight in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
-ty.d.hus@aggiemail.usu.edu