Aggies defeat Bulldogs to snap four-game losing skid
The Utah State men’s basketball team snapped a four-game losing skid tonight at the Spectrum, defeating Mountain West Conference foe Fresno State 78-65.
Eager to get a victory on the heels of a four-game losing skid, the Aggies came out shooting hot. The team shot 56 percent on 22-39 shooting, including 5-11 from behind the three-point arc en route to their win over the Bulldogs.
Fresno State came into Logan leading the Mountain West in field goal percentage at .480 on the season, but was held to just 35 percent shooting from the field and 11 percent shooting from the three-point line.
“I thought that was a huge part of the game,” said USU head coach Tim Duryea of his team’s defense. “Our guys played hard, played tough. They deserved to win tonight.”
Not only did the Aggies hold Fresno State to a low shooting percentage, they were able to hold junior guard Jahmel Taylor to just three points on 1-7 shooting, 1-5 from beyond the arc. Taylor entered the game No. 1 in the Mountain West in shooting percentage, and No. 6 in the nation in three-point shooting.
Sophomore forward Norbert Janicek went off for 14 points and grabbed 8 rebounds to help the Aggies to victory. The Slovakian big man has played limited minutes as of late because of early foul trouble, but he was able to stay on the court for 29 minutes in tonight’s win.
“I was just trying to play as hard as I can,” Janicek said. “We planned for this game for a week, and I thought that we did the things that we were supposed to do.”
After gaining an early lead four minutes into the game, the Aggies never looked back. USU led for the remainder of the game, including outscoring Fresno State 51-42 in the second half.
Freshman guard Koby McEwen contributed in a big way to the Aggies hot shooting night, knocking down 6-7 of his shots including 3-4 from long range. He led all scorers in the game with 22 points, to go along with eight rebounds and two assists.
“Koby had six field goals tonight, I would say that about four of them were baskets that you can’t coach and can’t teach,” Duryea said. “You just kind of stay out of his way and try to not be a hindrance.”
The Aggies high-percentage shooting was complimented by efficiency in the rebounding game. USU out-rebounded the Bulldogs 40-30.
McEwen attributed the team’s victory to toughness.
“Coach Duryea challenged us, he said ‘don’t get out-toughed today,’” McEwen said. “Our aggressiveness needs to outmatch the other team every single night for us to be able to get wins”
The Bulldogs were unable to capitalize on an opportunity to move up into second place in the Mountain West, and instead fell to 13-8 (5-4) on the season. With the victory, the Aggies improved to 9-11 (3-6).
“I’m not really worried about wins and losses,” McEwen said. “We’ll peak at the right time come March and everything will be fine.”
Utah State will take on first-place University of Nevada 18-4 (7-2) Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.