Second half spurt propels Aggies over Wolverines
Junior guard Brockeith Pane played his best game as an Aggie since his season debut performance against Weber State.
The junior from Dallas, Texas busted out of Aggie head coach Stew Morrill’s dog house in a big way, as he finished with 19 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 shooting from the 3-point stripe to lead the Aggies over the Utah Valley Wolverines, 76-58 Saturday night in Orem.
“Brockeith was good,” Morrill said. “He’s really been wanting to play well and concentrating on the things we’ve been asking him to do. He’s a new guy and it takes a little time. It helped his confidence that he made some shots early, but just did a really solid job out there and boy do we need that. That was very positive to see.”
The Aggies not only got the production they needed from their point-guard position, they were also able to put together a great second half on the road after struggling in the second half at home to Cal-State Bakersfield.
“I was pleased with our second half play,” Morrill said. “I think that’s by far the best second half we’ve had on the road. We were good defensively. We were good on the boards and we made some shots and executed a little better offensively.
The Aggies struggled for much of the first half to get any momentum going, as there were seven ties and five lead changes. Every time the Aggies would be begin to pull away guards Isiah Williams and Holton Hunsaker would answer back. Williams had 12 points at half to lead the Wolverines.
“He’s a good player, and he got on a roll,” Morrill said of Isiah Williams. “Second half we tried to make him not shoot 3’s, because that is what he loves to do the most. He still made some contested 15-18-footers. He’s a good player.”
Williams would finish with 22 points and the only other Wolverine to finish in double-digits would be Hunsaker with 10.
The Aggies did out-score the Wolverines in the final four minutes of the first half to take a 33-30 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Pane started the second half with 3-point basket, and the Aggies would eventually push their advantage to 18 points late in the second half. The Aggies played one their best offensive halves of the season shooting 53.8 percent from the floor and 42.9 percent from long distance. USU also used their tough-nosed defense too shut down the Wolverines allowing them to shoot 36.4 percent from the field and 31.3 percent from 3-point range.
Much of the Aggies success can be attributed to the trio of big men in Tai Wesley, Nate Bendall and Brady Jardine. Wesley finished with another double-double as he scored 14 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. Bendall nearly missed a double-double with 12 points and eight assists.
The Aggies now prepare for the brutal 3-day World Vision Invitational at the Spectrum.
“That’s the biggest test right there; three games in three nights,” Wesley said. “You gotta keep your body fresh. We’ll have one morning to prepare for teams and not just bad teams; teams with some talent. It’s a good practice for the WAC Tournament.”
Up first for the Aggies are the Idaho State Bengals from the Big Sky Conference. Tip-off is slated for 8:05 p.m. at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
-ty.d.hus@aggiemail.usu.edu