Ags declaw Bobcats in Spectrum, Wildcats next
The Utah State University men’s basketball team suffered a poor first half to come back in the second half for the victory for the third straight time this season. The Aggies defeated Montana State University 60-55 Tuesday in the Spectrum.
“We will take it,” USU Head Coach Stew Morrill said. “It goes down as a ‘W.’ Ten years from now no one will know how we got that ‘W.'”
Utah State improved their record to 5-0 on the season as the Bobcats dropped to 2-4.
Montana guard Jason Erickson led the cats with 14 points, shooting 6-for-9 from the field. Guard James Clark also added 10 points.
The Aggies, who defeated Montana State 66-51 in Bozeman, Mont., to open the season, knew the Bobcats would come in and play tough.
MSU did not play well at their home in the Nov. 17 opener, Morrill said. USU held an 18-point lead prior to halftime in the game at Montana.
Although the Aggies look good on paper, Morrill is still not convinced his team in worthy of the title.
“We ain’t automatically good,” Morrill said. “You are good when you perform consistently – night in, night out and practice in, practice out. We have not learned that yet.”
Montana State was first to score but forward Desmond Penigar equaled the Bobcats first basket with one of his own.
USU point guard Thomas Vincent entered the game and contributed a three with 12:45 left in the half, followed by a three-point basket by guard Tony Brown. Brown’s three put the Aggies up 14-12 with 10:49 left in the first half.
“The three pointers come from the great screens and the big guys,” Vincent said. “They’re getting me open and I’m getting good looks.”
Vincent finished with six points, shooting 2-3 from behind the arc.
Brown, who only sat out two minutes during the first half, scored 13 points and had five assists.
Vincent and Brown teamed up once again for a pair of treys to pull the Aggies within four, 29-33, to end the first half of play.
“The shot clock was running down and it was a wide open look and I knew it was getting close to zero,” Brown said.
Brown said he felt the back-to-back three’s look a little air out of the Bobcats.
Although the Aggies only trailed by four after 20 minutes of play, it was obvious the team was struggling.
“They didn’t feel too good about themselves [after the first half],” Morrill said.
Penigar especially found himself in early foul trouble, sitting on the bench half of the game.
Finishing the game with four fouls, Morrill actually anticipated Penigar fouling out due to defensive problems.
“I kept trying to get some baskets out of him before he would foul out,” Morrill said.
Only playing 20 minutes, Penigar still led the Aggies with 14 points.
Penigar also experienced foul trouble while in Montana.
The Aggies have come back in the second half to win the last three home games, extending their Spectrum winning streak to 26 games.
“We played much better in the second half,” Morrill said. “We had to to have a chance to win.”
Morrill described the Aggies streak of second half victories as a “hell of a deal.”
“You take a win any way you can get it,” he said.
Montana led the Aggies most of the second half until each team found themselves in a rut, tied at 43-43.
Sloppy play by each team held the score at 43 all until the seven minute mark as the Aggies pulled ahead with a basket by Penigar.
Penigar then shot 2-2 from the free throw line and added another basket to put the Aggies up 49-47, a lead Utah State would not relinquish.
“We got it going in the second half a little better than the first half,” Vincent said.
Scoring back to back three-point goals with in a 10-second span, the Bobcats looked as if they were going to send the game into overtime.
USU guard Ronnie Ross added four points from the free-throw line, though, with less than a minute remaining, sealing the victory for the Aggies.
Ross finished the game with 10 points, shooting 4-for-6 from the line.
The Aggies will head to Ogden to take on the Weber State University Wildcats on Saturday to face their final in-state opponent of the season.
“They’ve got a good club,” Brown said. “They’ve got some people that can play.”
The Wildcats won the Big Island Invitational in November, defeating Louisiana State, Wisconsin and Colorado State.
“We are very aware of how good of a basketball team Weber is,” Morrill said. “It’s a fun situation for us. We should be excited about it. Going in there 5-0 and with two in-state wins, who would have ever thought that?”