Same Story, Different Ending
A year ago USU missed a last second shot and the Utes won the game. The Aggies made sure that didn’t happen again.
The Utah State University mens basketball team edged out University of Utah 60-57 for the wild victory in the Spectrum. Senior forward Chaz Spicer (12 pts.) hit a game winning three with 1.6 seconds left in the game. The Aggies stole the Ute inbound pass to seal the victory. The Spectrum floor flooded with fans as time expired. In the middle of the mass, Chaz Spicer was lifted upon the shoulders of some of the fans.
“It was my first game winning shot ever,” Spicer said. “I had a lot of stuff going through my head. I didn’t know what to do. I can’t remember what I did, so hopefully it was nice.”
The shot came from a fast break after a Utah miss, and a Chaz rebound, with eight seconds to go. Stew had told his team to push the ball once they got it back.
“Last thing I wanted to do there was call a time out and let them set up there defense,” Morrill said. “That doesn’t always work out, but it worked out this time.”
At the other end of the court Chaz got the ball again and found himself wide open. He took a step forward, then back and shot the three. It went in and the Spectrum exploded with 1.6 seconds left on the clock.
The in-state rivalries are known for their intensity, and this one lived up to that standard. It was a back and forth fist fight that went to the end.
“We battled,” Stew Morrill said after the game. “We hung in there and we battled. It was a good game. It was a slug fest and a battle, just what you expect in the in-state games.”
While the ending was sweet, the rest of the game was hard fought. Jaycee Carroll was a monster from everywhere on the court. He shot 11 of 16 from the field while going 5 of 8 from three point range, and he managed to get three offensive rebounds. All that while playing nearly the entire game. He ended the game with 27 points, three points shy of half the points for the Aggies.
“Obviously Jaycee Carroll wanted to win this one,” Morrill said.
Before Spicer hit the game winning three, Jaycee Carroll hit another one just as important. The Utes were on a 5-0 run, leading 57-54, with about 45 seconds left in the game. Jaycee Carroll came off a screen, guarded tight, but still managed to get the shot off and sink it.
“Huge shot,” Morrill said about Jaycee’s game tying three. “Didn’t have much room. He doesn’t need much room. As coaches we when he misses we get kind of irritated. He’s not supposed to miss.”
With his 27 points Carroll pushed his streak to seven games in a row with 20 or more points.
With a low scoring game like this, obviously defense played a major part. The Aggies, undersized, were forced to play very physical with the bigger Utah post players. Luke Nevill (7foot1), who leads the Utes in scoring with 18.3 points per game, was a presence down low. He shot 8 of 10 from the field for 16 points.
“That guy was big,” Steve DuCharme (10 pts.) said, who’s job it was to guard Nevill for the majority of the game.
The game felt eerily like the game last year. It was the same hard-fought close game that came down to the last few seconds.
“This game brought back lots of memories from last year,” Carroll said. “Really close going down the stretch, and us with a chance to win going down the stretch. It felt really good.”
While the game ended with a bang, the beginning was not as exciting. After the first ten minutes of the game the score was 13-12 USU. During the first half neither team was able to put together any kind of a run. Yet, the Aggies did manage to go into the locker room at half with a 27-21 halftime lead, thanks to a bank three pointer in the closing seconds.
USU was able to holds the Utes to 47.1 percent field goal shooting in the first half, but only managed to shoot 44.4 percent themselves.
The second half was a different story. Both teams came out firing and hitting all their shots. The Aggies were able to bit by bit build up a 12 point lead with 15:59 left in the game. They kept the lead around ten points for a few minutes until Luke Nevill started to bring the Utes back. With 7:10 on the clock the Utes took their first lead of the game, 50-48.
With 2 minutes in the game the Utes still had a three point lead, then came Jaycee Carroll. He had been hitting shots all night and the crowd had chanted several times, “You can’t guard him.” And the Utes couldn’t. Carroll hit the three to tie the game. The Aggies make the defensive stop and Chaz hits the game winner.
“That’s just what college basketball should be all about,” Morrill said. “The more nights you have like that in college basketball the better game it is, and we have quite a few like that here. I don’t think anywhere else in the state has that kind of environment.”
The Aggies will be back in action this Saturday against UVSC in Provo. The Aggies will need another solid performance to win their second straight in-state game.
“We’re up to our rear end trying to win down there,” Morrill said about going to UVSC. “Anyone that has done their homework knows their playing well.”
The Aggies will look to win their eight straight against the team down south. Game time is 7:05, Saturday, December 9.