How sweet it is: Aggies rope Broncos to move into first
Facing its toughest test of the conference season thus far, Utah State (15-2, 4-0) overcame an 0-8 shooting start from the field and 21 total turnovers to beat the Broncos of Boise State (11-6, 4-1) by a 68-59 final to take over sole possession of first place in the Western Athletic Conference.
The Broncos made it known from the beginning that they were not going to let Tai Wesley beat them, pounding the senior forward in the post with constant double and triple teams on defense and forcing the USU offense to produce from outside the paint. That production did not come early on, as the Aggies missed each of their first four attempts from behind the 3-point line before senior Tyler Newbold connected from deep to put USU on the board.
Still, the Aggies fell behind 11-5 early in the game before Brian Green hit a 3-pointer, followed up by three straight baskets by junior guard Brockeith Pane and capped off with another long ball from Green to put the icing on a 12-4 scoring run, giving the Aggies a lead which they would never give up.
Green, who had shot just 4-14 from behind the arch over the team’s previous three games, said after the game that he just wanted to loosen up and have some fun.
“Lately I just haven’t been as loose and have been kind of tight and thinking too much,” Green said.
The senior guard rebounded with a strong performance against Boise State, shooting 5-6 from deep and scoring 16 points. But perhaps more than anything, Green, alone with fellow superstar off the bench Brady Jardine, served as the momentum killers against the Broncos, giving the Aggies some much needed boosts off the bench.
“That’s what me and Brady like to do,” Green said of his role off the bench. “We take a lot of pride in that.”
Bouncing back with a vengeance from the slow start to the game, Utah State took a 33-21 lead into halftime, and looked to be completely in control of the game. The Broncos however, had a different idea.
Boise State started the second half with a furious 9-0 run, capped off by a La’Shard Anderson 3-pointer to bring both the Broncos right back into the mix, along with plenty of momentum.
Then it was the bench duo of Green and Jardine to take their turn of creating a run, as the two combined to score nine of the next 11 points for the Aggies to bring the lead back to 11.
And just as the Broncos had done before, they refused to quit, forcing a barrage of turnovers by means of the full court press on Utah State, which led to seven straight Boise State points off of turnovers.
For every Bronco run though, Utah State had a run of its own to hold on for the win, led by 19 points from Pane to pick up the slack for a rare off-night from Wesley. While it might not have been pretty, USU head coach Stew Morrill felt that his team stepped up on the defensive end of the floor when the offense struggled.
“That’s not the way to have a good chance to win the game,” Morrill said. “Fortunately our defense was good and we shot a good percentage.”
Still, he is hopeful that the chaos created by Boise State’s pressure defense will serve as a lesson for the future to go along with getting a big road win.
“It’s always nice to learn when you get a win,” Morrill said. “This is one that if you get it, some other people aren’t going to.”
The next test might not be much easier for USU however, as they travel to Fresno State to face a Bulldog team that is 3-1 thus far in conference play. Tip off for that game is 8 p.m. Saturday.
– matt.sonn@aggiemail.usu.edu