Pane’s monster debut leads Aggies over Weber State
After a sluggish first half for the Aggies, junior point guard Brockeith Pane scored 23 total points to lead Utah State to a 77-65 win over Weber State.
The Aggies got into trouble early as both forwards Brady Jardine and Tai Wesley earned two fouls apiece in the first seven minutes of the game.
“I guess I’ve got to clean up my screening,” Wesley said. “It was hard to get a rhythm when I picked up two quick ones, but I think it kind of got me hungry for the second half.”
In the first stanza, the home team shot a dismal 32 percent from the field, also going 0-7 from 3-point land, giving them the 36-29 disadvantage going into the locker room.
“It’s the first game of your senior year, first game that counts and the first half was awful,” Wesley said. “You can respond two ways; you can come out and keep playing awful or you can play better. That’s what I decided to do and everyone else did, too.”
Wesley flirted with what would have been his 10th career double-double, scoring 19 points and grabbing 9 rebounds. He also blocked two shots.
Wesley was really able to open up as Aggie guard Brockeith Pane continually tested the Wildcat defense in the second half, allowing Utah State to spread the ball around a compacting defense.
Pane took over and gave momentum to his team as he scored eight points in a 17-0 run to take the lead 54-45 partway through the second half. Challenging the defensive prowess of Weber State guard Damian Lillard, Pane took the ball to the hole in transition to draw a foul several times. He would make a total of 11 foul shots, many of them after bold drives to the hoop.
“Coach asked us to pick it up at halftime, so I really tried to pick it up,” Pane said. “The slow start was just jitters; I just wanted to be aggressive and help my team win. We’re a team that likes to get stops and push it on the break.”
Pane, a transfer from Midland (Texas) Junior College, had the highest scoring game by an Aggie newcomer in 20 years since Jay Goodman’s 33 points in his 1990 debut against BYU.
“We wanted him to be really aggressive on the break because we were struggling in the half court,” USU head coach Stew Morrill said. “When you have a guy who is that good in the open court, you have to let him make plays.”
Wesley said he likes playing with Pane, mentioning his ability to get to the rim and score.
“Our offensive game in the second half was solid,” Wesley said. “We came out and we knew what we needed to do and we got things done.”
Pane led the scoring for USU and also grabbed five rebounds and made four assists. Weber State head coach Randy Rahe said Pane was very difficult for the Wildcats to guard.
“(USU) is a team that you cannot hold down forever. All I can say is that they are a very good team,” Rahe said. “Usually when Utah State makes a run at home in the second half, they get away from everybody. I thought we hung in there and fought hard.”
After Weber State shot 50 percent from the field in the first half, the Aggie defense tightened up to hold the Wildcats to just 35 percent in the second. As a team, Utah State had seven blocks and four steals, also forcing Weber State to turn the ball over 12 times.
“A lot of credit goes to them. When they had to make plays, I thought their veterans really made plays,” Rahe said. “Tai Wesley was really good in the second half, and they executed their plan to get him the ball really well.”
Weber State found more troubles at the foul line in the second half, making just 8 of 15 free throws against the background Wild Bill Sproat and the rest of the Utah State student section.
“It was a good college basketball game for the first one out of the chute,” Morrill said. “Weber has a good, quality team. There’s a reason they’re picked to win their league.”
Lillard performed exceptionally in the loss, leading all scorers with 28 points. The junior out of Oakland, Calif. never missed a 3-point shot until 14 minutes were left in the second half, giving him a total of six 3-pointers made. Lillard also had three steals and four rebounds in front of multiple NBA scouts.
Rahe, who was named the Big Sky conference coach of the year three times after his 13-year tenure as an assistant coach to Morrill, said he thought Lillard did a really nice job.
“(Lillard) got a lot of attention,” Rahe said. “They were moving different guys on him. They were really cognizant of where he was. When he put the ball on the floor they had two or three guys there. I thought he handled it really well.”
Lillard was the 2009-10 Big Sky Most Valuable Player and was named Honorable Mention All-America by the Associated Press.
“He is right there at the top of the list. We shut him down for 28 didn’t we?” Morrill said, also mentioning the way USU guard Tyler Newbold defended the Weber State star. “Tyler is a good defender. One thing we know is he’s going to try like crazy. I thought he did a solid job out there.”
The Aggies will next travel to Provo to take on in-state rival Brigham Young on Wednesday, Nov. 17 at 7:05 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on the Mountain.
“We will be very hard to beat this season if we keep playing like that,” Pane said.
– tavin.stucki@aggiemail.usu.edu