Robbed by UC Irivine
It wasn’t supposed to end this way.
Utah State guard Ronnie Ross pulled up for a three-point shot with 4.8 seconds remaining on the clock and the crowd went wild.
It was supposed to be over.
In the mind of the Utah State men’s basketball team, they had all but won the game. Fans couldn’t agree more, as they began moving toward the edge of the rows, preparing to rush the floor.
One man knew, though.
Head Coach Stew Morrill knew the game wasn’t over because the University of California, Irvine had a one-man wrecking crew: Jerry Green.
“It was probably fitting he made the game winner if they were going to win,” Morrill said. “He sure was [NBA caliber].”
Before the game winning shot, the Aggies trailed by as many as seven points in the final quarter of play but brought themselves within one off a shot by Brown with 38.2 seconds remaining.
Lack of communication, Morrill said, was what caused the one man the Aggies didn’t want to have the ball with seconds winding down.
An 8-footer by Green at the buzzer was not the first time he lead the Anteaters to victory in that fashion on the road.
In back-to-back Saturday’s, Green hit buzzer-beaters against Long Beach State and Boise State, respectively.
“We probably didn’t explain it well enough in the time out,” he said. “We didn’t execute on the last play.”
Ross, despite the loss looked to be the hero of the night leading the team with 20 points including the first two USU buckets of the game, described the final play in one word. Disaster.
“By the time we could react, it was over,” Aggie forward Chad Evans said.
Fighting back from a sickness earlier in the week, Aggie guard Tony Brown struggled on the night, scoring nine points off 3-11 shooting.
Desmond Penigar and Evans contributed 14 and 10 points, respectively.
As expected, Green led his team with 31 points off 13 for 20 shooting and going 5-for-8 from the line.
The only other Anteater to check in with double digits was Adam Parada with 13.
Similar to last season, the Anteaters took pride in destroying Aggie winning records. Last season, Irvine handed USU its first loss in league-play in 26 games.
This season, UCI had the pleasure of being the first team to win in the Spectrum since Jan. 8, 2000 when the Cougars defeated Utah State 82-73.
Prior to Thursday night’s loss, the Aggies held the third-longest home court winning streak (31) in the country only behind Michigan State (53) and Detroit (35).
The Anteaters were also the first team to defeat USU at home in Big West Conference play.
“All good things come to an end,” Morrill said. “That’s the nature of streaks.”
The Aggies will look to start a new streak on Saturday as they host conference opponents Long Beach State.
The two teams last met in California last year as the 49ers handed USU its worst loss of the season, 71-56.