Brockeith Pane scores career-high 24 points
USU picked up its first Western Athletic Conference road win of the season Saturday night.
Senior guard Brockeith Pane hit a free throw with nine seconds left as part of his career-high 24 points, and the Aggies held on to defeat the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs 69-65 on Karl Malone Court at the Thomas Assembly Center.
USU (10-8, 2-2 WAC) bounced back from a 20-point blowout against New Mexico State on Thursday.
“We had to find a way to get our second road win,” Pane said. “Louisiana Tech did everything in their power to not let that happen on their own court, and those guys came and played good.”
Louisiana Tech (8-10, 0-3 WAC) jumped out to 9-0 within the first three minutes on three 3-point shots.
“This team is a very good shooting team,” Pane said. “Something, at times, we’ve struggled to do is guard the 3-point line, because we try to help each other so much. I guess in the second half they kinda cooled off, and we were able to come out with a victory.”
Senior forward Morgan Grim stopped the run with a layup three minutes into the game, but the Bulldogs went on to hit three more 3-pointers — good for 6 of 8 in the first seven minutes — and eventually ballooned their lead 22-10 on a made jumper by freshman guard Raheem Appleby.
USU’s difficulty to score early on complimented its early foul trouble. Junior forward Kyisean Reed provided a small spark for USU in the first half but eventually fouled out. Freshman Ben Clifford earned USU head coach Stew Morrill’s praises, but he fouled out as well.
Grim played limited minutes because of a recurring foot injury sustained earlier in the season, adding to the Aggies’ foul troubles.
“We’re not experienced, but we have a lot of guys that want to play basketball and they know how to play, they just need the opportunity,” Pane said. “Today they were fortunate to get the opportunity. Guys were in foul trouble, and Morgan was hurt.”
Despite his foot, Grim gritted it out in the second half because of the foul trouble of his fellow post players.
USU began the second half on a 12-0 run. Reed, who finished the night with 11 points, sparked the run with a dunk, which Clifford capped with a 15-foot jumper.
“They didn’t feel good about New Mexico State in the last 12 or 14 minutes of that game, and Louisiana Tech punched us in the mouth early,” Morrill said. “And in the second night of a road trip, it would have been just easy to get down and not compete. I was real pleased with how hard we fought. It wasn’t real pretty on either team’s side at times, but we just kept fighting.”
The Aggies failed to hold onto the lead, as Louisiana Tech eventually tied the game again at 41 with 14:15 to play. Junior guard Brandon Gibson scored seven of his nine points during that stretch.
Sophomore guard Kenyon McNeail led Louisiana Tech with 19 points.
Freshman forward Michale Kyser hit a jumper with 9:16 remaining to put the Bulldogs up 51-50, but that was that last lead Louisiana Tech enjoyed.
Sophomore forward Mitch Bruneel gave USU the lead for good on a 3-pointer with 7:47 to play.
“We needed a win badly,” Morrill said. “We were coming off a couple of tough losses, and we needed to get back to .500 in league and get a split on this trip. It’s amazing how much better you feel when you can find a way to win a close game.”
USU finished shooting 49 percent (26-53) from the field and 22 percent (2-9) from the 3-point line, and Louisana Tech shot 38 percent (24-62) from the field and 41 percent (12-29) from 3-point range.
Sophomore guard Preston Medlin nearly finished with a double-double, scoring 11 points and pulling down 9 rebounds.
“We’re just happy to get a win, happy to get a road win, happy to feel good on the charter flight — four hours with a victory,” Pane said. “It would have been heck going back four hours with a loss.”
– ty.d.hus@aggiemail.usu.edu