Ags beat up on Irvine

The Utah State men’s basketball team blew out the UC-Irvine Anteaters 77-52 and won its first conference road game of the season Thursday.

Spencer Nelson led the Aggies with 25 points and seven rebounds, despite playing with at least three fouls for more than half of the game.

Nelson said he was very happy to finally win a conference road game.

“I thought we did a great job tonight,” he said. “This team can play regardless of where it’s at. Whether at home or on the road, it shouldn’t matter.”

Nelson picked up his third foul with 5:40 remaining in the first half and was forced to sit on the bench until the second period. Once he came back in, he took over, scoring 18 points in the second half.

“He got on a roll,” head coach Stew Morrill said. “You got to love that competitive part of him. He’s awfully special to have on your team.”

USU used a 13-0 run at the end of the first half and start of the second to give the Aggies an 11-point lead and put some separation between itself and UC-Irvine.

“In the second half, we did a great job,” Nelson said. “We came out and went on a run and it really made a difference in the [rest of the game].”

The Aggies shot over 60 percent from the field – 72 percent in the second half – and 60 percent from behind the three-point line.

“Well the game always looks easier when shots go in,” Morrill said. “For whatever reason, we caught fire in the second half. We haven’t had as good a half like this on the road for a long time.”

David Pak dished a career high eight assists with seven points and Jason Williams added another 12 points for USU.

Nelson said he thought Pak paced the Aggies for the whole game.

“I think he played really calm,” he said. “Eight assists and no turnovers – that’s an incredible line.”

The Aggie defense helped by forcing 14 Anteater turnovers, nine of them coming in the first half.

“If you let them run their offense, they have a lot of stuff to throw at you,” Morrill said. “Anytime you can go on the road and hold a good offensive team to 52 points, that’s a good thing.”

Morrill said the offense deserves some credit for the good defense the Aggies played.

“The offense kind of fueled our defense and rebounding,” he said. “We were energized and fired up.”

The Aggies will try for a second-straight road win when they play Long Beach State Saturday.

-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu