USU MBB routs Westminster 106-68
LOGAN — With 40 seconds left in the game, forward Zee Hamoda drilled a three-pointer through contact to earn an and-one and push the Aggies past the century mark against Westminster on Thursday. USU’s 38-point victory, 106-68, improved the Aggies’ record to 9-0, tying them with the 1938-39 and 1917-18 squads for the best start in Utah State history.
SPECTRUM IS HYPE RN
🤯 @_zee_6 #AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/Y22Jrz69Ls
— USU Men's Hoops (@USUBasketball) December 16, 2022
“That’s our goal, is to win every game that we play,” guard Steven Ashworth said. “It’s great, but at the same time, it leaves us with a hunger and desire to get more. We’re not satisfied with where we’re at. And I think that’s the key, is that we can’t ever be satisfied because that’s when you get stagnant, that’s when you get complacent and that’s when you get beat on a night that maybe you shouldn’t.”
Hamoda led the way for the Aggies with a career-high 28 points off of the bench. The sophomore from Bahrain also set career-highs with 10 made baskets, six 3-pointers and four steals in 28 minutes.
“Zee had a great game and played extremely well,” head coach Ryan Odom said.
Hamoda also got some tape for his highlight reel when he threw down a 360-degree slam dunk on a fastbreak in the second half.
ZEE HAMODA
🤯 @_zee_6 #AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/vWb8E41Nh4
— USU Men's Hoops (@USUBasketball) December 16, 2022
“I was shocked that I was alone and that nobody came to block me or anything,” Hamoda said. “I was like, ‘Okay, time to show out.” I was thinking maybe windmill or 360 or between the legs and I settled on the 360.”
Without forward Taylor Funk and guard Rylan Jones who were out with injuries, forward Dan Akin and guard Steven Ashworth slid into the starting rotation. Moving those productive scorers to the first unit encouraged Hamoda and guard RJ Eytle-Rock to step up their production. Hamoda said he and Eytle-Rock talked about that going into the game.
“We are the sixth and seventh guys (who) come from the bench so we need to bring the juice for the team,” Hamoda said. “Somebody’s tired we need to come and show up and help the team.”
Eytle-Rock finished with a season-high 17 points and a career-high five 3-pointers.
“It was good to see RJ make some shots today,” Odom said. “He’s had some that have just rolled in-and-out on him and I thought he had a nice game, defensively in particular, too.”
Despite the wide margin at the end of the game, the Griffins made USU work for their lead throughout the first half. In fact, Westminster took a 21-20 lead off of a 15-5 run with about seven minutes left in the first half. Guard Taylor Miller was a big part of the run and Griffins’ offense in general, finishing with 26 points.
“He’s a great player, a good friend and we play in the summers and we know each other well,” Ashworth said. “He came out and was ready to go from the very start. He hit a few of his first good looks and he knew it was going to be on from there and he was going to be their go-to guy.”
USU took back the lead on a jumper from guard Sean Bairstow and the Aggies led the rest of the game.
Utah State also set a program-high in 3-pointers made with 21, surpassing the previous record of 20 treys made at New Mexico State in 2006.
“I think we never really set out to break records like that. We really just try to let the game come to us,” Ashworth said. “That’s what’s great about this team, is that you can go out on a night like this and do something like that, which is really special.”
The Aggies finish their homestand with Weber State on Monday night at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on Aggie Radio 92.3 FM.
Featured image by Sam Warner from the Utah Tech game.