Aggies wave goodbye to NIT
A pack of gum.
It may not have been the deciding factor in the Aggies’ 77-69 home loss to Montana State University Thursday, but it did add insult to injury.
“The game was still in doubt with 29 seconds to go,” USU Head Coach Stew Morrill said. “A lot of things can happen in 29 seconds. We had over 6,000 great fans tonight and one person made a tremendous mistake.
It was also a costly mistake.
Following a controversial no-call on what the crowd viewed meant disaster with the Aggies down 72-69.
A pack of gum was thrown at a referee. He immediately called a technical foul on the crowd, who came out to see the opening round of the National Invitational Tournament.
Morrill wouldn’t have hesitated to do the same if he was in the refs shoes.
“I would ‘T”‘him too if I were the ref,” he said. “Really poor judgment [on the part of the fan]. We had trouble with stuff being thrown onto the floor earlier in the year. We have great fans. Ninety-nine point nine percent of them are great fans. We just cannot have those kind of things.”
Forward Desmond Penigar was quick to agree with Morrill.
“If I get hit with gum I’d call the tech too,” Penigar said. “You would too. No one wants to get hit.
“He did the right thing,” Penigar said
Morrill said Penigar had a nice offensive game, but similar to everyone else on the team struggled defensively.
Penigar finished with 25 points off 11-of-17 shooting and nine rebounds.
Aggie center Jeremy Vague said he saw exactly what happened and would have probably called the technical.
He did point out how the ref could have made the call either way, though.
“A whole pack of gum hit him. Not just a piece, a whole pack of gum,” Vague said.
Vague, who played a crucial role for the Utah State inside, scored 18 points and pulled down eight boards.
Despite the last second theatrics, senior guard Tony Brown said he still appreciated the fans.
“It’s a tough way to end the season,” Brown said. “For the crowd that’s how much they love us. Sometimes you have to take something like that, but it was a tough time to take the technical.”
Brown, who played as if he aged 50 years in the last four games, finished with five points, four rebounds and 10 assists.
The technical foul with 27.3 seconds remaining and two successful shots by Bobcat Jason Erickson continued to show how Montana State played an unstoppable game against the Aggies.
Erickson had 8 points in the games – MSU’s first trip to the NIT since 1987.
The biggest threat to the Aggies seemed to come from an unlikely place – Pete Conway.
Conway, who came into the game 0-9 from beyond the arc, looked as if he was playing for something. He knocked down six treys, all of which were shot from the goal posts down the street at Romney Stadium.
“[Conway] really loosened us up the first half when he got hot,” Bobcat Head Coach Mick Durham said.
Durham’s team had three players in double digits, including Conway with 23 off 6-of-10 shooting from downtown. Aaron Rich (17 points) and Casey Reynolds (11 points) also contributed to the Bobcat win.
The Aggies still managed to outrebound MSU, 33-27, but allowed Montana State to shoot 52.8 percent from the field including a 56 percent first half.
Morrill said he knew it was going to be a tough ball game because of the close 66-51 USU victory at Montana State and the even closer 60-56 win in the Spectrum.
“I think some of our fans just thought we were suppose to beat Montana State again,” Morrill said. “They’re probably mad and won’t remember we won 23 games. We won the league.
“In a month or so we’ll remember,” he said.