Aggies reach 100 points in second straight game
Thanks to a career night from Dwayne Brown Jr., the Aggies cruised to a 100-73 win over Hartford, winning their first two games for the fifth time in six seasons.
Utah State has now eclipsed 100 points in back-to-back games, having scored 101 against Montana State on Tuesday. The last time USU had 100 points in consecutive games was in the 1994-95 season. This season, however, is the first time in program history that the team has started off a season with two straight 100-point games.
Brown tied a career high in points with 24 off the bench, 19 of those coming in the first half. The 24 led all scorers in the game and contributed to the 59 points scored by the Aggie bench.
“All the guys that have come off the bench these first two games have done a fantastic job just bringing energy and playing hard,” said junior guard Sam Merrill. “Dwayne (Brown Jr.) obviously had a ton of mismatches tonight and he was able to get to the rim and finish.”
The USU Aggies defeated Hartford at the Spectrum on November 9th at USU. With the The Hurd behind them the Aggies pulled out a win with the final score 100 – 72. Photo by Tim Carpenter
The spark Brown provided off the bench was sorely needed as the game didn’t start out in an ideal manner. Hartford went on a 9-0 run in the first 2:18 of the game, making three of their first four shots — all of which were 3-pointers.
“You’re never glad that that happens, but being a new coach with a new team, I loved how we responded,” said head coach Craig Smith. “We didn’t panic. We played with great poise. And when you get down like that you’re never going to get a nine-point play, so you’ve just got to chop wood.”
Smith’s squad responded to the Hawks’ 9-0 run with a 32-8 run of their own over the course of the next 11 minutes. Brown had six points in that span and with Quinn Taylor netting 10 of his 12 points on the night during that run. Smith had high praise for Taylor after the game.
“I don’t know how to describe Quinn Taylor, he’s just Quinn Taylor,” Smith said. “He’s dependable, you know exactly what you’re going to get out of him every night. He makes other guys better.”
Utah State didn’t just explode on offense during its run. The defense also tightened up significantly after giving up three 3-pointers in just over two minutes. In the 32-8 run by the Aggies, the Hawks shot 3 of 13 from the floor and 1 of 6 from deep. By the end of the game, Harford only made 37.5 percent of its shots.
“It all starts on defense,” Brown said. “They’re a great team, they’re a great shooting team and we made them frustrated and they couldn’t make shots. We played great defense.”
With good defense and solid scoring nights from Brown, Taylor and freshman Tauriawn Knight, who had 14 points, the Aggies didn’t need as much production from Merrill, it’s star guard who had the Hartford defense keying on him the whole night
“They were trying to deny me catches as much as possible,” Merrill said. “I think that’s the beauty of our team, we have enough ways to find points even if I don’t get shots up or if I’m missing shots.”
Merrill, who had a career-high 37 points on a career-high 18 field goal attempts, took just seven shots all night and had only three points at halftime. Merrill finished with 14 points, four assists and four rebounds.
Friday’s game was the first part of the MGM Resorts Main Event tournament that includes three home games for Utah State before travelling to Las Vegas to face Saint Mary’s and then either Arizona State or Mississippi State. The Aggies’ next game will be at home against Mississippi Valley State at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The Devils are 0-2 with losses to Nebraska (106-37) and Texas Tech (84-52).