Aggies finish season with road sweep
The USU men’s basketball team finished the 2011-12 season with a win over the Hawaii Warriors late Saturday night.
USU senior forward Morgan Grim found an opening in Hawaii’s defense for a game-winning layup with seven seconds to play, and Hawaii senior guard Jeremiah Ostrowski, who finished with 13 points and four assists, turned the ball over on the final possession to clinch the 61-60 win for USU.
“I caught the ball and saw there was nine seconds left and said screw it and went for it,” Grim said. “I went to my right and he cut me off, so I spun back — just threw it up.”
Hawaii (15-15, 6-8 WAC) jumped out to 6-2 early in the first half before USU (17-14, 8-6 WAC) responded with a 13-3 run propelled by a jumper from junior forward Kyisean Reed. Sophmore guard Preston Medlin hit a 3-pointer to cap the run, and senior guard Brockeith Pane scored seven of his game-high 20 points as part of the run.
“He was really good tonight,” USU head coach Stew Morrill said of Pane. “He was aggressive in the open court. He was making some perimeter shots, getting to the basket and kicking to other guys for shots. He had a really good game, probably one of his better games of the year.”
USU maintained its lead through most of the first half until Hawaii forward Joston Thomas made a layup and drew a foul on USU junior forward Igor Premasunac. The junior, who scored a team-high 19 points, converted the free throw to give the Warriors a 29-27 lead with 2:24 remaining in the first half.
Medlin tied the game on the ensuing possession with a pair of free throws, but a defensive breakdown gave Thomas a wide-open dunk, which give Hawaii a lead it would maintain for much of the second half.
Hawaii began the second half on a 9-2 run, fueled by 3-pointers from Ostrowski and senior guard Zane Johnson. Johnson’s baseline 3-pointer with 17:54 to play gave the Warriors a 41-30 lead.
USU chipped away at the lead throughout the second half and finished the game on an 11-5 run. During the final two minutes before Grim hit the game-winning shot, Medlin and Pane each hit jumpers while Hawaii struggled to hit free throws.
“It was bound to turn our way eventually,” Morrill said. “These things do tend to even out. We just hung in tonight. We could have given in a lot of times in the second half tonight. We’re hanging by a thread, and we kept playing and kept playing.”
Johnson and Thomas both went one of two from the line, and it was after the miss from Thomas when the Aggies took the lead.
“We just made some plays at the end,” Morrill said. “Brockeith made a big shot, Preston made a big shot. Obviously Morgan’s was huge at the end.”
Hawaii junior center Vander Joaquim, who scored a team-high 24 points in Logan, was in foul trouble all night and struggled to get anything going on offense.
“He’s not the same guy we saw in Logan for whatever reason,” Morrill said. “We doubled him with our guards a lot and he made some silly fouls that got himself out of the game. If you would have told me coming in that he would have two points and four rebounds, I would have said we would have a chance. It was certainly a factor for us.”
USU now prepares for Louisiana Tech in the first round of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament beginning Thursday.
“We’ve got to step up and play,” Grim said. “We’ve got to come out every game and be ready to play. We beat them twice, but it’s hard to beat a team three times in a row.”
– ty.d.hus@aggiemail.usu.edu