Another 1st-round exit

themselves and Brandon Roy.

The Utah State men’s basketball team committed 22 turnovers and Roy scored 28 points as the Washington Huskies beat USU 75-61 in the first round at Cox Arena in San Diego.

Head coach Stew Morrill said the Aggies simply couldn’t handle the pressure that the Huskies were putting on the ball.

“[Washington’s] game plan was excellent,” Morrill said. “They took us out of a lot of our stuff. Their team speed, size and quickness is so great. They gave us fits. Normally we turn the ball over about 12 times a game. They cause a lot of turnovers and we knew that. They forced their will on us.”

Washington head coach Lorenzo Romar said although his team was in control for most of the game, it couldn’t let up.

“You have to give a lot of credit to Utah State,” he said. “They are very efficient. They are a gritty, well-coached team. We weren’t surprised at how they played.”

Roy made 11 field goals – four of the them three-pointers – and had five assists for the Huskies.

“We had no answer for him,” Morrill said. “We tried to double him, but it’s hard to double someone that good. He’s the real deal.”

Jaycee Carroll was assigned to guard him man-to-man for much of the game.

“He’s big and strong,” he said. “Anytime I would get a body on him, he’d bump me and would go right by me.”

The game got off to a slow start. USU didn’t score until the 14:34 mark in the first half on a layup by Nate Harris, but that only tied the game 2-2. Prior to that basket, the Aggies had already turned the ball over four times and missed four shots.

“Lucky for us we came out with good defense or it could have got ugly,” Harris said.

Washington led by nine at halftime and by as many as 16 in the second half, but the Aggies battled back to cut their deficit to seven points on several occasions.

But each time the Aggies had a chance to get closer, they turned the ball over.

The game started about an hour late because of a bomb scare in the morning. Two bomb dogs detected something in a food cart, but further investigations found nothing suspicious in it.

Lt. Robert McManus said no threat was called in.

Cox Arena was evacuated until police could remove the cart and establish that it was safe to re-enter the building.

-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu