Men’s basketball: Protecting the house
Aggie head coach Stew Morrill didn’t think Utah State’s 65-55 victory over Weber State on Saturday was pretty.
Neither team led by more than five points until the final five minutes of the game when the Aggie defense held the Wildcats to two points – both from the foul line.
“That’s the kind of games we generally have with Weber,” Morrill said. “Kind of knock-down, drag-out, tough to score. We’re just glad we hung in there and found a way to grind one out. That’s basically what happened.”
It is, after all, another win against an in-state team.
“We’ll take it,” he said.
Utah State is 39-26 all-time against Weber State and has won 11 of the last 13 games against the Wildcats, despite last season’s 73-63 loss in Ogden.
The Aggies allowed 3 of 13 Weber State 3-pointers Saturday and held Wildcat senior shooter Scott Bamforth scoreless from beyond the arc after he put up 27 points on seven treys in the game last season.
“They’re a good 3-point shooting team,” said Aggie shooting guard Preston Medlin. “It was good for us to only allow them three 3’s, which is big-time. I feel that’s what helped us really win the game.”
Forward Kyisean Reed and center Jarred Shaw were vital in the defensive stand, each blocking three shots apiece.
“I think we were being physical,” Shaw said. “We just stuck with it.”
On the other end, Shaw had 16 points to go along with his 12 rebounds.
“We made free throws when we needed to make them, we got stops when we needed to get stops,” Shaw said. “I’m glad we came out with a good win.”
Scouting Santa Clara
Santa Clara is undefeated this season, sitting behind only No. 12 Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference standings.
Seniors Marc Trasolini and Kevin Foster combined for 42 points in the Bronco’s 89-74 victory over Eastern Washington on Friday.
Trasolini, a forward from Vancouver, British Columbia, also averages more than seven rebounds per game while Foster, the 6-foot-2 guard, averages four steals and assists each game.
“He’s the spacing forward that can also score down low,” Morrill said of Trasolini. “They use him a lot in the perimeter. Then there’s the Foster kid. Just looking at him on tape he looks like an NBA-type guy with all the things he can do. Offensively he’s obviously really good, but defensively he’s getting four or five steals a game. It’s very impressive. He has extremely quick hands and a great nose for the ball defensively.”
Tipoff is set for 8 p.m.
– tavin.stucki@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @StuckiAggies