Aggies lose double-OT heartbreaker
Going in to Thursday night’s matchup with first-place Pacific, Utah State basketball coach Stew Morrill said his team needed to “hang around” if the Ags wanted to have a chance to win.
Scratching, scraping and clinging to hope, senior Spencer Nelson carried his team on his back Thursday, forced two overtimes, left claw marks on the court and walked away with hardwood and blood under his fingernails.
Scoring 15 of his game-high 23 points in the second half, Nelson almost single-handedly kept the Aggies hanging around, but in the end, to no avail.
A dagger 3-pointer by Pacific’s David Doubley with 1:38 left to play forced USU to foul. The Tigers hit six free throws down the stretch, cementing the Aggies’ demise – 73-66.
“We competed about as hard as you can compete,” Morrill said. “We probably had 10 chances to win and 10 chances to lose.”
Nelson, battling with bronchitis, had a “tough time” during timeouts, but insisted he was OK, Morrill said. The senior played 43 of the game’s 50 minutes and finished with 12 rebounds and seven assists.
“Spence is a warrior,” forward John Neil said. “He brings it every single night. He never gives up.”
Neil contributed nine points and seven rebounds in the game, but all of his points came in the first half.
The Ags led by as much as 10 in the first half, but a 12-2 Pacific run – fueled by nine points from Guillaume Yango – kept the Tigers in the game.
And at the intermission, USU was clinging to a four point lead.
A three-point play from Yango, a layup from Marko Mihailovic and a running 3-pointer from Doubley and the Tiger’s exploded out of the locker room with a 8-0 run to start the second half.
Pacific would push the lead to as much as 10, but a gritty performance by Nelson kept the Ags in the game.
Freshman standout Jaycee Carroll, the Big West’s leading scorer, was limited to only two points in the first half, but knocked down eight more in the second. No other Aggie scored in the second half.
“We didn’t get frustrated,” Neil said of the team’s second half performance. “We just battled.”
Foul shots from Nelson forced the first overtime, but USU found itself coming from behind once again as Mihailovic and Christian Maraker scored five-straight Pacific points.
Maraker finished the night with a team-high 19 points to go along with nine rebounds.
A three-point play by Nate Harris tied the game at 58 and forced the game’s second overtime.
Harris, the nation’s leader in field goal percentage, was held to 1-of-7 shooting in regulation, but finished the night with 12 points.
In the end, it just wasn’t enough.
“It seemed like the ball bounced their way a few more times than it bounced our way,” Neil said.
“You don’t ever want to get used to losing,” Morrill said. “But that’s life.”
Offensively, the Utah State bench only added three points and the team’s starters saw a majority of the minutes in the long game.
“They played the best,” Morrill said. “They earned the right to win or lose this basketball game.”
With the loss the Aggies’ drop to 11-4 overall and 2-2 in BWC play. Pacific improves to 11-2 and 6-0 in conference.
Fatigue will now be a concern Saturday, as the Aggies travel to Cal State Northridge, a team that leads the nation in steals.
“Their quickness will be a huge concern,” Morrill said. But the Ags won’t have much time or energy to prep for the contest, he said, if they expect to have anything left for the game itself.
Saturday’s game will tipoff at 3:05 p.m. and will broadcast on 94.5 FM.
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