Ags win fourth straight
The Utah State basketball team did the usual with the Gossner Foods Classic title game Friday night: They won it in dominant enough fashion to give even the players at the deepest parts of the bench playing time.
The Aggies (9-5) took down the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks, 78-62, in front of 8,109 fans at the Spectrum.
It was Utah State’s fourth consecutive victory.
Aggie All-American candidate sharp-shooter Jaycee Carroll was named the tournament MVP. That’s because he was in top form, recording 33 points on 12-of-15 shooting. It was the first time in his collegiate career that he has scored 30 points two games in a row.
Other Aggies in double figures were redshirt freshman Tai Wesley, who had 11 points, seven rebounds and two blocks. Senior guard Kris Clark ended with eight assists and only two turnovers.
It was mainly second-half dominance that lifted the hosts. The Lumberjacks (8-5) owned the boards, out rebounding the Aggies 19-8 in the first half. Utah State responded in the final half and ended the game with 29 rebounds-the same amount the Lumberjacks ended with.
“In the first half we did not rise to the challenge. Coach questioned our toughness (at halftime),” said Aggie big man Gary Wilkinson, who ended with 14 points and five rebounds. “We don’t like to have that question in our mind. We all took that to heart.”
Added USU head coach Stew Morrill, “That was a struggle, that’s for sure. At halftime we were ahead, but we were getting throttled on the boards. (But) it was good win. (The Lumberjacks) have been playing well.”
The Lumberjacks jumped out early on the Aggies, taking a 7-2 lead a minute and a half into the game.
The Aggies eventually responded, tying the score at 10 three minutes later and taking their first lead, 12-10, at the 14:50 mark.
The Lumberjacks would even the score twice after that, but would trail by as many as nine as Utah State converted on 58 percent of its shots (14-of-24).
With 40 seconds remaining in the opening half, Morrlll was given a technical foul for contesting a traveling call given seconds earlier to Aggie freshman Nick Newbold.
It was an ironic call because a minute earlier, ninth-year Lumberjack head coach Mike Adras jumped up and down a number of times because of a traveling call his team received, but apparently no officials witnessed Adras’ temper tantrum.
Morrill said it was his first technical foul in eight years.
In response, the Spectrum fans gave the officials a hearty booing as they left the court at halftime.
The Aggies held the visitors to 42 percent on field goals (12-for-28) in that half.
Utah State jumped out quick in the final half, going up by 15 three minutes into it on a Wesley put back.
Aggie junior DeUndrae Spraggins nailed a 3-pointer with 10:30 remaining to give Utah State its largest lead of 18 points.
As for Carroll’s performance, there were no surprises.
“When Jaycee plays like that, we win,” Wilkinson said. “It’s fun to play with a guy who draws so much attention. He has a great work ethic.”
Morrill was equally complimentary of Utah State’s second all-time leading scorer.
“He’s an unbelievable scorer, isn’t he?” Morrill said. “He kept responding. He’s pretty confident most the time. He never quits coming at you. He just keeps playing.”
Carroll attributed his success to practice and patience.
“Once you get going it can carry over for a couple games,” Carroll said. “I shot the ball well in practice. I shot some extra shots and I was confident. I just tried to relax and warm up and not worry about missing a few. In the game I knew if I missed a few then I was going to hit the next couple of shots.”
The Aggies are off until Dec. 29 when they host Oral Roberts.