No. 24 Aggies top Gaels on the road
Revenge was a common theme for then-No. 24 Utah State’s men’s basketball team during the preseason.
That theme returned Saturday night as the Aggies stormed back from a dismal first half against then No. 23 St. Mary’s, led by solid performances from junior guard Brockeith Pane and senior forward Tai Wesley to defeat the Gaels 75-65 in Maraga, Calif. The Aggies zone defense gave the Gaels fits and they were able to find their offense in the second half to seal their first top-50 RPI victory of the season.
“It was good to get a win against St. Mary’s,” Wesley said. “They got us the last two years, and we came here when they had a winning streak going, and we were able to battle and have a good second half, and come out on top.”
Both teams struggled offensively early in the first half, but it was freshman guard James Walker III who got the Aggies on the board first with a running jumper and-1. A 3-pointer from senior guard Brian Green and a lay-up from Pane gave the Aggies (25-3, 12-1 WAC) their largest lead of the first half at 13-7, but the first half went downhill from there for the Ags as they struggled from all over the floor.
“I felt like we couldn’t finish,” Wesley said. “We got the ball where we wanted, and we really couldn’t finish around the basket. It was kind of an awful half for us offensively. They played good defense. They’re tough. Give them credit, but we missed a lot of shots inside that we usually don’t miss.”
The Gaels (22-6, 10-2 WCC) rely heavily on their guards for offensive production, but their starting bigs in junior forward Rob Jones and sophomore forward Tim Williams struggled early to stay in the game due to foul trouble. Sophomore reserve forward Mitchell Young stepped up for the Gaels, as he scored eight of his 11 points in the first half.
The Aggies were either tied or held a lead over the Gaels for the earlier part of the first half, until senior guard Mickey McConnell reeled off eight consecutive points, including two 3-pointers from about 30 feet out, to give the Gaels a 26-22 lead. Those eight points were the early part of a 20-2 run that gave the Gaels a 34-22 lead. The Gaels would lead 36-27 heading into the locker room at halftime.
“We talked at halftime, it wasn’t a screaming match, but we talked about how we were playing bad,” Morrill said. “I told them how good they were going to feel when they came back and won this game. That was the approach I took with them. All week I have been basically really positive about what we’re going to get done. They didn’t hang me out to dry.”
The Aggies answered Morrill’s positive motivation with a 19-2 run during the second half to take over the game. The Aggies and Gaels traded buckets for the first few minutes of the second half, but after a put-back lay-up from Jones to give the Gaels a 41-33 lead, St. Mary’s only managed two more points over the space of eight minutes.
“We were able to get buckets so we were able to get into a zone,” Wesley said. “It was hard first half because we were missing everything, so we couldn’t get back into our zone and had to play man. Our zone kind of stifled them. We were able to match-up really well with their shooters, and that really helped us win the game.”
The Aggies’ zone was so suffocating, they allowed St. Mary’s to shoot only 28.6 percent from the field in the second half and 40 percent for the night.
“They had not seen zone for a number of games, and not a lot of zone the whole year, and I think that was a problem for them,” Morrill said. “They got a little stagnant and missed some shots. Our zone has saved our bacon a number of times through the years and it did tonight.”
On the offensive end, the Aggies shot a blazing 55.6 percent from the field during the second half and exploded for 48 points after only managing 27 in the first half.
“It gives you a chance when you keep them down, and then we shot the ball so well in the second half,” Morrill said. “We didn’t settle for 3s. We got baskets going to hole and kicking it and dropping it off and post moves.”
Pane, who struggled as much as anyone in the first half, finished the night with 22 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field and 1-of-2 shooting from 3-point land.
“He didn’t have great first half, but boy did he have a special second half,” Morrill said of Pane
The Gaels would make one last push toward the end of the game. Senior forward Pooh Williams gave the Aggies their largest lead of 65-53 with 3:27 to play. The Gaels called timeout to stop the bleeding, and junior sharp-shooter Clint Steindl, who had been held scoreless the entire game, hit back-to-back 3’s to cut the Aggie lead to 65-59.
Junior forward Brady Jardine put an end to the mini-run with a monstrous two-handed jam plus the free-throw.
“We needed it right then,” Morrill said. “They had answered the bell and made a few shots, and they were pressing us, and he got a huge dunk.”
The Aggies return to WAC play on Saturday against the Idaho Vandals.
– ty.d.hus@aggiemail.usu.edu