Ags top Highlanders
In its last game at home before a long road swing the Utah State basketball team played well defensively in its 77-52 win over UC Riverside Saturday.
The Aggies had a season high 11 steals en route to forcing 20 Riverside turnovers. Utah State head coach Stew Morrill said a combination of good defense and being worn out from their road trip kept the Highlanders shooting 28 percent from the field.
David Pak started the game with a hot hand making the Aggies first three shots, the last of which was part of one of the three Aggie runs of five or more points in the first half. The runs of five, seven and 11 points helped Utah State take a 13-point lead into halftime.
The Aggie press gave the Highlanders problems early as Utah State forced a backcourt violation and got a couple easy baskets from steals to help build its lead.
Jason Williams started for the first time this season. He finished the game with nine points, two steals and a block.
The Aggies turned the ball over only four times in the second half and Morrill said the Aggies had “spurts of good defense.”
“In the first half, even though we were ahead by 12 or 13, we were sloppy,” Spencer Nelson said. “We changed things in the second half. We did not turn the ball over as much and moved the ball a lot better which set us up for better shots.”
Nelson scored 17 points, grabbed seven rebounds and had six assists to lead the Aggies in the scoring column.
Jaycee Carroll put up 11 points for the Ags, including his first dunk of the season. The dunk came on what he said is “his favorite play,” a backdoor cut right to the basket.
Nate Harris, playing on his birthday, got most of the attention from the Highlanders.
“I have to give them credit,” Nelson said of UC Riverside. “They were playing hard and concentrating on keeping the ball away from Nate.”
Even with the extra birthday attention, Harris scored eight points and led the team with nine rebounds.
With Pak’s scoring, the point guard position played well. Coming off the bench, Calvin Brown had five assists and two steals to help the Aggies keep their lead throughout the game.
With 10 minutes left in the second half, Riverside was already in the double-bonus – giving the Aggies 18 free throw attempts after only allowing three in the first half.
-krn@cc.usu.edu
Utah State´s Jason Williams looks for someone to pass to while being guarded by a UC Riverside player. Utah State won the game 77-52 Saturday night in the Spectrum. (Photo by John Zsiray)