by Amos Naismith
December 29, 2007 (c) TrueAggies.com
Exclusive to TrueAggies.com
Logan, UT -- The Holidays have been kind to the Utah State men's basketball team. The Aggies returned to action following a short Christmas break with a 76-55 pounding of Oral Roberts at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on Saturday night.
Following a pair of solid performances against Utah Valley and Northern Arizona in the Gossner Classic just before the Holiday, the win over ORU was a well executed and total team effort. The Golden Eagles focused almost entirely on Jaycee Carroll, which left the Aggie big men open underneath the basket - and the tall ones did not disappoint in the paint.
Gary Wilkinson led the charge with 15 points and eight boards, while Tai Wesley scored a career-high 14 points, and Stephen DuCharme added ten points to the cause. Both Wesley and DuCharme matched Wilkinson in rebounds with eight a piece.
In the first half it was Wesley in particular who benefitted from the attention Oral Roberts gave to Carroll. While their defense would collapse on the Aggie All-American, trying to trap him in the corner, Carroll would slip a quick pass along the baseline into Wesley for the open layup or dunk.
Wesley could have continued to benefit from the extra room in the second half had he not gotten into foul trouble. With four fouls the freshman saw most of the second period from the bench.
Utah State coach Stew Morrill could keep guys like Wesley on the bench for the second 20 minutes because of the extreme efficiency of the Aggie offense in the first half.
The Golden Eagles may have scored first, but the Aggies poured on the points and were out to a 20-4 lead before the first ten minutes expired. The lead increased to 20 at one point during the opening half and finally rested at 42-16 when the dust cleared at the break.
The second half was much like the first, with the Aggies in the driver’s seat. Utah State maintained a lead of just over 20 points for the remainder of the game, even while bringing in some of the bench.
A low spot for the Aggies was the uncharacteristically poor passing of Kris Clark. Although the USU point pulled off a few spectacular plays worthy of the highlight reel, he also threw the ball to ORU five times on the night.
Yemi Ogunoye was the man given the task to shut down Carroll. Ogunoye was highly successful at shutting down Oklahoma State's leading scorer James Anderson when ORU beat OSU in Oklahoma last week. Anderson, who averages 17.2 points-per-game for the Cowboys, laid a big fat goose-egg with Ogunoye in his face. Carroll at least managed 14, while doubling his season average in assists.
You can email feedback, or comments and suggestions to Amos at amosnaismith@trueaggies.com
Official Basketball Box Score
Oral Roberts vs Utah State
12/29/07 7:05 pm at Logan, Utah (Dee Glen Smith Spectrum)
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VISITORS: Oral Roberts 7-5
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
03 OGUNOYE, Yemi....... f 0-0 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 2 15
21 LEWIS, Marcus....... f 4-11 0-0 2-6 1 1 2 4 10 3 2 0 0 23
33 KING, Shawn......... c 2-8 0-0 0-0 5 3 8 2 4 0 3 0 2 22
11 LIBERTY, Adam....... g 3-11 1-5 4-6 0 4 4 3 11 6 4 0 3 38
13 EHAMBE, Moses....... g 1-4 0-3 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 0 23
02 HARDY, Andre........ 1-3 0-0 1-1 1 0 1 2 3 1 0 1 1 7
04 ALLEN, Curtis....... 3-6 2-3 1-1 0 1 1 0 9 1 0 1 0 6
05 SANGO, Kelvin....... 0-1 0-1 2-2 2 3 5 2 2 0 0 0 2 21
10 JARVIS, Robert...... 3-11 3-8 0-0 0 0 0 1 9 1 4 0 0 21
44 VEALY, Marchello.... 2-8 0-2 1-2 2 5 7 2 5 3 1 2 1 24
TEAM................ 2 1 3
Totals.............. 19-63 6-22 11-18 15 18 33 17 55 16 15 4 11 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 7-30 23.3% 2nd Half: 12-33 36.4% Game: 30.2% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-12 16.7% 2nd Half: 4-10 40.0% Game: 27.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 0-4 0.0% 2nd Half: 11-14 78.6% Game: 61.1% 3
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HOME TEAM: Utah State 10-5
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
42 Wesley, Tai......... f 7-10 0-0 0-2 4 4 8 4 14 1 3 0 1 22
55 Wilkinson, Gary..... f 7-12 0-0 1-1 3 5 8 1 15 1 2 1 0 24
10 Clark, Kris......... g 1-3 0-2 0-0 2 1 3 3 2 7 5 0 2 29
20 Carroll, Jaycee..... g 5-11 1-4 3-3 0 7 7 0 14 4 3 0 1 30
24 Newbold, Tyler...... g 2-3 1-1 0-0 0 2 2 1 5 3 0 0 0 23
05 Williams, Pooh...... 1-3 0-2 0-0 0 1 1 1 2 0 0 0 1 6
11 Spraggins, DeUndrae. 2-3 0-0 2-2 0 4 4 0 6 1 0 0 0 21
15 Stephens, Desmond... 1-3 1-3 0-0 0 0 0 5 3 3 2 0 0 11
34 Niang, Modou........ 1-2 0-0 1-1 0 2 2 1 3 1 0 0 0 5
40 DuCharme, Stephen... 3-6 0-1 4-4 3 5 8 1 10 1 2 1 2 23
44 Formisano, Matt..... 0-1 0-0 2-4 0 2 2 0 2 0 2 0 0 6
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 30-57 3-13 13-17 13 33 46 17 76 22 19 2 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 18-33 54.5% 2nd Half: 12-24 50.0% Game: 52.6% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-4 25.0% 2nd Half: 2-9 22.2% Game: 23.1% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-7 71.4% 2nd Half: 8-10 80.0% Game: 76.5% 0
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Officials: Jeff Campbell, George Washington, Bart Wegenke
Technical fouls: Oral Roberts-None. Utah State-None.
Attendance: 7959
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Oral Roberts.................. 16 39 - 55
Utah State.................... 42 34 - 76
ID-569046
Points in the paint-ORU 22,USU 46. Points off turnovers-ORU 18,USU 19.
2nd chance points-ORU 8,USU 12. Fast break points-ORU 0,USU 0.
Bench points-ORU 28,USU 26. Score tied-1 time. Lead changed-1 time.
Last FG-ORU 2nd-00:02, USU 2nd-01:37.
Largest lead-ORU by 2 1st-19:43, USU by 29 2nd-06:16.