Steeeeeeewww!

The chant thumping off the walls of the Spectrum: “Stew.”

The win: No. 226.

The record: Utah State’s all-time wins by a head coach.

For USU head coach Stew Morrill, and the raucous fans in the Spectrum, the Aggies’ hard-fought 82-78 win over Boise State Thursday night was more than just the team’s third Western Athletic Conference victory and their eighth in row.

It was history.

But it wasn’t until USU freshman forward Tyler Newbold iced the game with two free throws after-in the middle of a mad scramble-the ball rolled to him, and he was fouled with 3.4 seconds left, that the celebration could begin.

It seemed like Utah State (13-5 overall, 3-0 in the WAC) spent most of the second half icing the game.

Every time the Aggies would build an eight or nine point lead, Boise State (12-5 overall, 3-2 in the WAC) came roaring back to get within a couple.

Even when it looked like a Jaycee Carroll 3-pointer with three seconds left on the shot clock and 39.5 left on the game clock would be the nail in the Broncos’ coffin, BSU came back with a 3-pointer of their own from forward Reggie Larry to get the Broncos within one, at 77-76. The Carroll 3-pointer would be his last scoring of the night, as he finished with 29 points – just two shy of setting a new USU all-time scoring record.

“(Boise State) has got so many weapons,” Morrill said. “You’re in trouble if you double the post. You’re in trouble if you don’t double the post.”

Utah State tried both strategies to stop a Bronco team that came in averaging 81.8 points per game and shooting 52.3 percent from the field.

The Aggie defensive strategy must have been somewhat effective, because they held Boise State to 78 points on 48.3 percent shooting.

Morrill said his post players, Gary Wilkinson, Tai Wesley and Stephen DuCharme, did a nice job of keeping what he calls the best post tandem in the WAC-seniors Matt Nelson and Larry-in check. The duo combined for 25 points and 18 rebounds, with Larry raking in a double-double with 14 points and 12 boards.

“As posts we wanted to come in this week and go after them,” said Wilkinson, who finished with 21 points and seven rebounds. “We just had to match their level of intensity and come and be willing to lay bodies together and try to go toe to toe with them.”

Wilkinson also credited the USU crowd for constantly berating Nelson, something Wilkinson thought contributed to Nelson’s sub-par performance.

At the half, the Aggies had a 22-8 advantage on points in the paint, but that slipped to 28-26 by game’s end.

Also at the half, Utah State had allowed no fast break points for the Broncos.

“If we could stop their transition game, we felt like we could take them out of 80 percent of their offense,” Wilkinson said.

Morrill said USU sacrificed offensive rebounding to stop the Broncos in transition. Utah State did different things, like dropping three guys as safeties to protect against the break, and bringing no players up to rebound when an Aggie shot free throws.

Wilkinson said these things slowed down the pace of the game-something that clearly was to Utah State’s advantage.

In the first half, the tension served to slow the game, as both started teams out slow and sloppy, with a lot of turnovers and few baskets.

BSU started off hot from 3-point range, with senior guard Matt Bauscher lighting the Aggies up from three early on. He finished with a team high 24 points.

But the Broncos nerves showed with 10 first half turnovers, many coming on travels, and two coming from errant passes from posts to that ended up in backcourt violations. For the game, Boise State turned the ball over 17 times, for 25 Utah State points.

It wasn’t a hot start for USU either, especially for Carroll, who had zero points and four turnovers-including two in a row – until a 3-pointer with 7:50 left in the first. He finished the half with 10 points and three rebounds on 4-of-5 shooting from the field.

The three for Carroll was the spark to a run that saw the Aggies push their one-point lead at the time to a six-point, 37-31 advantage at the break. USU was down as much as five and up as much as nine.

But the whole game was a series of alternating runs.

After Carroll’s 3-pointer and a four-point Aggie lead, Boise State came back to get within one, before a string of three-straight Wilkinson lay-ins – on three consecutive possessions – sparked a USU run that saw them enter the break with a 37-31 lead.

Senior guard Kris Clark finished the game with 10 assists, and Wesley, a freshman forward, was able to score 10 points before fouling out with 3:13 left in the game.

– da.bake@aggiemail.com