Holiday wins for Ags
USU 87, UVU 65
For the Utah State men’s basketball team, playing in the Gossner Foods Classic historically has meant winning.
On Dec. 20 the Aggie team not only lived up to winning in this tournament, but senior guard Jaycee Carroll made history as Utah State cruised to a 87-65 win over in-state rival Utah Valley University.
With just under 12 minutes to play and Utah State leading 63-45, Carroll needed just two points to tie Wayne Estes for second place on Utah State’s all-time scoring list with 2,001 points. Just as he did all night long Carroll took a pass from DeUndrae Spraggins and nailed a 3-pointer to put him over the 2,000 career-point mark and pass Estes.
“Carroll’s in great company,” USU head coach Stew Morrill said. “I probably know better than he does how good of company he’s in. I saw Estes get 52 a couple nights before he died. It’s a remarkable accomplishment to pass Wayne Estes.”
Carroll in not so many words agreed.
“That’s neat, it’s a cool thing,” he said.
Carroll now stands alone in second place on the all-time scoring list behind Greg Grant, who played from 1983-86 and finished his career with 2,127 points.
USU 78, NAU 62
The Utah State basketball team did the usual with the Gossner Foods Classic title game Dec. 21: 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.”
USU 76, Oral Roberts 55
In their final tune up before starting Western Athletic Conference play, the Utah State men’s basketball team cruised to a 76-55 win at home Dec. 29 over Oral Roberts.
Utah State jumped out to a 20-4 lead and never looked back.
“Coming back off the break it was encouraging,” USU head coach Stew Morrill said. “Our team is getting better.”
Utah State showed a well-balanced offensive attack as four different players scored in double figures. Leading the way was junior big man Gary Wilkinson, who scored 15 points to go along with eight rebounds. Freshman forward Tai Wesley and senior guard Jaycee Carroll each scored 14 points while Stephen DuCharme came off the bench to score 10 in addition to pulling down eight boards.
“Everybody was contributing,” DuCharme said. “That pretty much sums it all up.”
Morrill agreed.
“We had balanced scoring,” Morrill said. “We knew they were going to try and do a good job on Jaycee.”
Wilkinson recognized that the Aggies usually need Carroll to score for the Aggies to win, but Saturday night was a sign of how well the Aggies can play together, he said.
Wesley came out with a spark and provided early points for Utah State. He scored all 14 of his points and recorded seven rebounds before halftime. Morrill feels that Wesley’s first-half performance was probably the best half of his young career.
“He was as good as he’s been,” Morrill said. “That’s maybe his best half of the year.”