Highlanders no match for USU
For 10 minutes Thursday night, it looked as though the University of California Riverside men’s basketball team was the favorite.
The Highlanders held a 22-13 lead with 9:45 remaining in the first half, but their spurt was short-lived as Utah State then went on a 13-3 run to take the lead, and eventually a 77-58 win.
“In some ways it’s kind of sick,” said USU Head Coach Stew Morrill, commenting on the team’s lackluster beginning to the first half. “I think we are really fortunate. When you are that flat a lot of times you cannot get it back. Fortunately, we played 28 minutes of hard-nosed basketball and 12 minutes of not very good basketball.”
Aggie forward Desmond Penigar said, “We knew what they were going to do, but we didn’t react. They gave us a run for our money.”
In the first half the Aggies (14-4, 5-2 in the Big West Conference) shot just 55 percent from the foul line, and the Highlanders controlled the boards 19 to 16, yet USU held onto a 32-29 lead at the intermission.
“We knew they were going to come out quickly,” Nelson said. “They were prepared. For 10 minutes they really dominated the ball game. They could have easily won.”
The Aggies immediately broke loose in the second half, outscoring UCR 19-5 through the first five minutes, before expanding their lead to as many as 22 in the final minute.
UCR freshman Nate Carter, the Big West Conference’s leading scorer, (18.8 PPG) committed a game-high four turnovers, and was held to 10 points on 5-of-11 shooting.
Riverside center Klaus Schille was the Highlanders leading scorer with 12 points on 4-of-4 shooting.
Riverside (3-9, 2-4) was held to 40 percent shooting in the second half and were out rebounded 38-to-18 in the game.
“Utah State just swamped us on the offensive boards in the second half,” said Riverside Head Coach John Masi, who is in his 24th year at Riverside. “They just ate us up. They have too many big bodies inside for us right now. That’s where the game was won.”
The Aggies had another significant group contribution as four players scored in double digits for the fifth straight game.
Spencer Nelson tallied 14 points and 12 rebounds (5-of-5 on field goals and one three-pointer) and Desmond Penigar collected 18 points and five boards, including a team-best four of six from the foul line.
Aggie redshirt freshman Nate Harris tallied 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting and grabbed five rebounds. Harris has scored in double-digits three of the past four games.
USU shot above 50 percent (54.4) for the third time in the past five games.
Both teams’ overall performances from the charity stripe was perhaps the low-note of the night. The Aggies converted only 59 percent of their attempts (13-of-22) and the Highlanders 50 (5-of-10 attempts).
“It’s completely [a] mental [thing],” said Nelson, who converted three-of-six from the line. “Three-for-six is horrendous.”
The Aggies have won nine of their past 11 games and are 5-0 against Riverside under Morrill.
The Highlanders are in their third year of Big West competition, but will not be eligible for the NCAA tournament (as well as the Big West post-season) until next season.
Utah State will return to action Saturday when it hosts California State University Fullerton at 7 p.m.
The Titans fell to 5-11, after falling to the University of Idaho, 56-49 Thursday in Moscow, Idaho.
–samhis@cc.usu.edu
Junior guard Greg Patton looks to take the ball up strong in USU´s victory over UC Riverside. (Photos by John Zsiray)