Aggies squeak by Spartans Sat.
The Aggie men’s basketball team was 11-0 in games this year that junior guard Jaycee Carroll scored 20 or more points. You can now make that 12-0 after USU’s 57-56 victory over San Jose State on Saturday in San Jose, Calif.
“He was making plays off drives and off rebounds,” Head Coach Stew Morrill said in a post-game interview. “He did a bunch of good things.”
After starting out slowly and falling behind 27-25 at halftime, the Aggies came out in the second half wanting to take control of the game
“Everybody collectively looked at each other and said, ‘We can’t come out slow on the road,'” guard Kris Clark said after the game in an interview.
By the 12 minute mark of the second half, the Aggies had built a 10-point lead and looked to be in firm control of the game. After slipping a little and letting the lead decrease to six, the team rebuilt a 10-point lead with six minutes left.
That is when the effects of the Aggies playing a tight zone defense in an effort to stop San Jose State big man Menelik Barbary started showing. The Spartans were able to make two straight 3-pointers and a free throw, compared to only two by the Aggies for a seven-to-two run, decreasing the USU lead to five, 55-50, with 3:16 left to play.
“If you’re playing a tight zone trying to stop the big guy, you’re going to give up some threes,” Morrill said.
After a timeout, Aggie forward Chaz Spicer put in a layup to give USU a 57-50 lead, and the bucket would turn out to be the last points for the team.
From there on out, the Aggies hung onto dear life as they were held scoreless for the final three minutes. The scenario was opposite of what the Aggies did against Boise State last Thursday night. In that game, USU scored the last 10 points of the game and held Boise State scoreless.
San Jose State had a couple chances to win the game in the last seconds. With 27 ticks left on the clock, the Spartans got the ball and hung onto it until they traveled and turned the ball over with only six seconds left. A quick foul sent Spicer to the free-throw line with five seconds left. Spicer, who has come up clutch for the Aggies this year, missed the front end of a one-on-one, and Spartan player Carlton Spencer rebounded the ball. Spencer dribbled to halfcourt where he set in flight a last chance, desperation shot that hit off the backboard and front of the rim before rolling off, to the relief of USU.
“I thought it was going in. I thought that the other night it was going in too. That’s two games in a row that come right down to the end, and they both go our way. We’ve been on both ends of these deals, and we feel good about it,” Morrill said.
The Aggies improved their overall record to 15-5 and, more importantly, 4-2 in Western Athletic Conference play. The Spartans fell to 2-15 overall.
Jaycee Carroll scored 22 points on 8-12 shooting while also pulling down seven rebounds and recording two steals and two blocks. Sixteen of his points came in the second half during critical Aggie runs.
Spicer contributed 16 points and Clark did a nice job of running the offense as he dished out eight assist and had no turnovers.
“I just congratulated him on that. That is a great job on handling the ball. Kris is doing a great job handling the job for us,” Morrill said.
The Spartans were led by 16 points from center Menelik Barbary, who shot 7-9 from the field.
The game was the fifth in 10 days for USU, who will have a much needed rest before taking on the ranked University of Nevada in Reno on Saturday
“There are a lot of areas in the game that we need to get better at, but right now we need some rest,” Morrill said.