Utah State beats Spartans in San Jose
The USU men’s basketball team picked up its second conference sweep of the season with a road victory over San Jose State on Thursday.
Sophomore guard Preston Medlin scored 26 points to lead the Aggies to a 71-61 victory.
San Jose held a one-point lead on a par of free throws from senior forward Wil Carter, who finished with 19 points and pulled down 13 offensive rebounds. Medlin responded with 3-pointer on the ensuing possession to put USU up for good.
“You know you are going to have to play,” USU head coach Stew Morrill said. “You are not going to just come in here and win. We shot the ball extremely well. That certainly helped us. We executed pretty well — 18 assists to eight turnovers. There were some good things.”
Senior guard Brockeith Pane played a key role in that efficient offense, as he dished out six assists to one turnover to go with eight points.
“He’s been real solid handling the ball and getting us into offense and scoring somewhat when he gets an opportunity,” Morrill said of the point guard. “He was real stable mentally tonight.”
USU finished the game shooting 55 percent overall and 47 percent from the 3-point line, and San Jose State shot 38 percent from the field and 27 percent from 3-point range.
“Defensively, we played a lot better in the second half,” Morrill said. “The triangle-and-two helped us. It got them out of their game a little bit. About the only area we struggled in was the boards, and that happens when you play triangle-and-two.”
San Jose State won the battle of the rebounds 33-20, but USU’s triangle-and-two defense — designed to stop Kinney and sophomore guard Keith Shamburger — held Kinney to three points in the second half after he scored 21 in the first.
“It’s not one of those things you work a whole lot on,” Morrill said. “You just throw it out there and see if it does you some good once in a while. What it does is it takes their primary two scorers. If you play it right, they don’t get shots, and now other guys are having to look for shots and it helped us.”
With the game tied at 36, sophomore forward Mitch Bruneel, who scored 12 points off the bench and came up with three steals, hit a 3-pointer to spark a 12-0 run.
“Our zone plays worked really well against it and it left me open on the wing a couple times,” Bruneel said. “It just felt like I was in my rhythm, and I was happy to help the team.”
Bruneel scored 15 points against the Spartans in Logan earlier in the season.
“It’s funny how it happens sometimes,” Morrill said. “A guy will play really good sometimes, and for (Bruneel), it’s been San Jose. He’s definitely earning himself some time out there, and he stayed really solid mentally.”
A pair of free throws from Shamburger halted a four-minute scoring drought for the Spartans, and a jumper from junior guard James Kinney, who led the Spartans with 24 points and five rebounds, cut the Aggie lead 48-40, but that would be as close the Spartans would get.
A Medlin 3-pointer with seven minutes to play gave USU a 63-48 lead.
“He’s really, really playing well and confident,” Morrill said. “He’s just making so many shots. Some are open and some aren’t as open, but he’s finding a way to make a high percentage.”
USU guaranteed itself at least a .500 season with the win over San Jose State.
“It’s nice to string a couple wins together,” Morrill said. “A lot of people thought we wouldn’t win another game and we were done. It’s nice to see these kids still battling and finding a way to get a win.”
– ty.d.hus@aggiemail.usu.edu