Aggie hoopsters blow out Division II Skyhawks
The Utah State men’s basketball team shot the lights out in the first half Friday night, dimming any hope Division II Fort Lewis College had of an upset in the Spectrum.
The Aggies downed the Skyhawks 86-54 in USU’s first regular season game, shooting an astounding 78.6 percent on 22-of-28 shooting from the field in the opening half.
USU put the pressure on the overmatched Skyhawks right from the get go, starting the game with a 13-0 run and taking a 27-point lead at the half.
Midway through the second half, Skyhawk Jason Faust’s shoe came flying off as he ran downcourt. Unfortunately for Fort Lewis, the wheels had already come off the rest of the team.
The Skyhawks, who defeated the New Mexico All-stars 120-53 in an exhibition game earlier this season, learned what the other side of a blowout looks like.
Utah State Head Coach Stew Morrill was glad his team didn’t look past Fort Lewis College even though it is a Division II team.
“A lot of times, I’ve had teams come out and not show the respect they need to show for another basketball team,” Morrill said. “We didn’t do that. We didn’t come out and just go through the motions. I was concerned about that, but we played hard.”
Aggie forward Spencer Nelson led the USU attack, scoring 16 points. Nelson aggressively went to the basket in the game, going a perfect 6-for-6 shooting from the field, and 4-for-4 from the free-throw line.
Guard Cardell Butler added 12 points, going 2-of-3 from three point range, while Quenton Harvey hit 3-of-4 from behind the arc and totaled 11 points.
Forward John Neil also chipped in 11, while Nate Harris dropped in 10.
The Aggies finished the game shooting 60.4 percent from the field.
Derek Yutzy and Ryan Sonnek were the only Skyhawks in double figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Morrill said his team experienced a drop-off in the second half, not executing as well as it had in the first half.
“We had a lot of lapses,” he said. “We didn’t play nearly as well, didn’t execute very well.”
The Aggies started the game without the services of regular starting center Mike Ahmad.
Morrill said the benching was because, “Mike needed to be reminded of his academic responsibilities.”
Morrill used the big lead as an opportunity to give a lot of minutes to players off the bench, which may have contributed to the lapses, he said.
“We were playing a lot of different guys,” Morrill said. “It’s hard sometimes to get a rhythm when you’re not out there very long.”
Point guard Mark Brown scored eight points and had four assists in 21 minutes, playing in his first game of the year.
Brown sat out the two exhibition games with a hamstring injury.
Morrill estimated Brown was 85 percent recovered from the injury.
“It’s good to have him back out there,” he said. “Obviously he can run a team and he makes our fast break better.”
Brown concurred with the diagnosis.
“It’s just minor pain, nothing really,” he said. “The only time I really felt it was when I came out.”
Brown said it felt good to get the team’s first win of the regular season.
“We started off real strong,” he said. “We kind of let up, relaxed a bit in the second half, but overall we did pretty good.”
Morrill said he was glad to have Brown get some minutes before Tuesday’s game against in-state rival Weber State.
“We have a lot bigger challenge next Tuesday,” he said. “Every time we go there it’s tough. They were undefeated in their league last year. They got two first-team all-conference players back. We don’t have a first- or second-team all-conference player back, but we’ve got some good players and our guys are going to be excited to compete.”
The two Wildcat all-Big Sky players Morrill referred to are forwards Nic Sparrow and Slobodan Ocokoljic, who was also Newcomer of the Year in the conference.
Weber State opened its regular season Friday as well, beating up on Albertson College 79-49.
Ocokoljic led the team with 24 points and 13 rebounds.
The Aggies and Wildcats have already faced one common exhibition opponent in Global Sports.
Weber State beat Global 74-73 on Nov. 6, while the Aggies fell to Global the next night, 76-74.
Morrill said games against in-state opponents are always intense.
“In-state games always take on a lot of meaning to a lot of people,” he said. “It’s wild to have one this early.”
The game will be a learning experience, Morrill said.
“You go on the road and play a quality team, you find out a lot more about where you’re at,” he said.
The game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
-royburton@cc.usu.edu