by Amos Naismith
January 19, 2006 (c) TrueAggies.com
Exclusive to TrueAggies.com
LOGAN, Utah -- In a sloppy affair Louisiana Tech were handed their first league
loss of the season as the Aggies beat the Bulldogs 64-55.
Even though Jaycee Carroll exploded out of the gates scoring 7 of his team-high
14 points in the first five minutes of the game, he struggled for the rest of the way
shooting only 5 for 17 from the field. The sharp shooting sophomore, who’s
normally money with his baseline jumpers from behind the arc, only sunk 2 of his
9 attempts from 3-point land.
Carroll was still better than the team average of 22.7% from 3-point range while the
Aggies as a whole were 40.4% from the field. Nate Harris and Cass Matheus were
able to team up down low to put in 13 and 12 points respectively.
Several Aggies came up huge on the defensive end of things as Carroll came away with 4 steals and Matheus had as many blocks.
Utah State got out to an early lead behind the productive play of Carroll, and poor shooting from LA Tech who went 1 for 12 in the opening minutes. The Bulldogs were able to gain an 11-10 lead over the Aggies that lasted only as long as it took for Durall Peterson to knock down a 3-point bucket to give the Aggies a lead that they would keep for the rest of the half.
With a few minutes remaining before the intermission USU created their biggest lead of the game resulting from a sailing hook shot from Matheus that gave the Aggies a 33-19 advantage over the Bulldogs. Following that shot LA Tech scored 8 unanswered points, including an enormously long 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Louisiana Tech’s late first half run cut the Utah State lead in half, creating a 33-27 half time score.
As play commenced in the second half, the Bulldogs continued to outscore the Aggies. LA Tech regained the lead with a little less than 17 minutes to play when a lay in from Paul Milsap made the score 36-35 in favor of the Bulldogs.
A minute later Nate Harris would drive the lane and successfully give Utah State a 37-36 lead. But, the slim lead was not enough to conquer the Bulldogs just yet as they grabbed the lead one more time.
With the Aggies down by three, 43-46, with about 11 minutes remaining Utah State had not scored in over three minuets of play. While his team mates were struggling to hit their shots Chris Huber hit back to back threes to launch Utah State into the lead for good.
In the closing minutes David Pak sunk four free throws to keep the home team well enough ahead of the visitors.
The win itself was not enough to help Utah State move up in the league standings. Only because Fresno State beat Nevada did the Aggies jump into 3 rd place behind LA Tech and New Mexico State.
The fact that Nevada fell behind Utah State in the standings makes their matchup on Tuesday, January 24, in Reno potentially a thriller of a game. It will be a true test of the Aggies character as they have had mixed results on the road this year – losing at Fresno and Hawaii while getting a victory in San Jose.
The Ags take the floor at the Spectrum again next Friday, January 27, as they take on the Jackrabbits of South Dakota State.
You can email feedback, or comments and suggestions to Amos at amosnaismith@trueaggies.com