Eureka!
Toraino Johnson scored a season-high 11 points, including a crucial 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down late in the second half, propelling the Utah State men’s basketball team to a 60-53 road victory over Long Beach State University Thursday night in the Pyramid.
With the victory, the Aggies improved to 17-4 (9-3 in the Big West Conference), and set up a showdown with the first-place team in the league, the University of California Irvine Saturday night in Irvine, Calif.
“When you go on the road, you hope you can keep it ugly and give your team a chance, and that’s what we did,” Head Coach Stew Morrill said.
At his weekly press conference, Morrill stressed the importance of USU playing better defensively than it did in its first encounter with the Niners – a 70-66 Aggie victory Jan. 12 in the Spectrum. In that game, LBSU was able to shot over 46 percent from the floor.
Fortunately for the Aggies, they were able to do just that, limiting the Niners to a horrific .350 shooting from the field. USU is now 12-0 when holding its opponent under 60 points.
Coming into the game, one of the Aggies main goals was to keep Niner power forward Travis Reed in check. After averaging 30 points a game over LBSU’s last two games, USU was able to frustrate Reed all night long, holding him to nine points on 4 of 12 shooting.
“We did do a good job [on Reed,]” Morrill said. “He had 30 points in two [straight] outings, so it was nice to see the kids carry out the game plan.
Both Morrill and Johnson said playing with energy on defense was a big factor in the game.
“If we didn’t have any energy today, than we wouldn’t have gotten this win,” Johnson said.
In a game that featured several long scoring runs by both teams, the Aggies were able to take perhaps the biggest run of the game outscoring LBSU 17-6 to start the second half, turning a 27-26 half-time deficit to a 43-33 advantage.
During the aforementioned run, four Aggies contributed to the scoring cause as USU received a balanced scoring effort on the night. Power Forward Desmond Penigar led the way with 15 points and a game-high 11 rebounds, followed by Johnson’s 11 points. Ronnie Ross scored 11 while Jeremy Vague tallied nine points and Tony Brown added eight.
“Boy was that nice to see because that really makes it harder for people to guard us,” Morrill said.
After LBSU cut the Aggies lead to 53-49 with a little under two minutes remaining in the game, Johnson hit his second trey of the season to give the Aggies the momentum they needed to close out the game.