| Coach
Morrill ties USU career record with victory over New
Mexico State
HANDS UP! Tai Wesley
grabs a loose ball in heavy traffic against New Mexico
State. / Photo by Seili Lewis
|
By Jake Williams
January 14, 2008 | On a night hyped by Jaycee
Carroll's pursuit of the Utah State career scoring
mark, it was the home-team defense that secured
Stew Morrill his 225th career victory, tying the
record set by legendary coach E. Lowell Romney.
Morrill downplayed his milestone 74-62 victory,
focusing his attention instead to the more short-term
task of competing for a WAC championship.
"You gotta protect home court if you're going
to be in the race," said Morrill. "Finally we
won a game with our defense."
Utah State controlled the action early, taking
leads of 9-4, 16-6, and 20-10 by 11:42 remaining
in the first half. |
MINE!
Gary Wilkinson controls a rebound. / Photo
by Seili Lewis |
Freshman forward Tai Wesley kept NMSU trailing early,
recording a block, two rebounds and a steal before picking
up his third foul and sitting out with 10:54 left in
the half. With the dominant forward sidelined, New Mexico
State finished an 11-0 run to take a 21-20 lead.
All-American candidate Jaycee Carroll entered the
game needing 46 points to surpass Greg Grant's career
scoring total of 2,127 points but struggled offensively,
scoring just 15 points in 40 minutes of action.
Defensively, Carroll was charged with the tall task
of limiting NMSU guard Jonathan Gibson's impact. Despite
Gibson's final scoring total of 22, Carroll held him
in check for extended stretches of the game.
USU junior forward Gary Wilkinson had a monster game,
recording 18 points and eight rebounds in 33 minutes.
Wilkinson also dominated the paint on the defensive
end between Wesley's third foul in the first half and
senior forward Stephen DuCharme's awakening in the second
half. DuCharme finished with seven rebounds, and his
presence in the paint was a major factor in NMSU's taking
30 of its 68 field goal attempts from beyond the arc.
The southern Aggies made just eight treys.
DuCharme said after the game that he was energized
by the home crowd.
"The crowd sure helped a lot. We had great attendance,"
said DuCharme.
The home crowd of 9,986 shook the building at times,
and the Utah Statesman awarded Fan of the Game
to a sextet of shirtless students who together spelled
out A-G-G-I-E-S across their chests. Dan Sheets, the
"S" majoring in journalism-public relations,
commented on being a USU fan: "It almost feels
like you are contributing to the game by cheering as
wildly as humanly possible. The game feels like a life
and death matter."
USU was confused throughout the game by New Mexico
State's switching among man-to-man, zone and box-and-one
defenses in addition to an occasional three-quarter
court press.
Utah State led 60-48 with 7:00 remaining before a
stifling defense and alternating three-pointers by Gibson
and NMSU guard Fred Peete allowed NMSU to tie the game
at 60 apiece.
Utah State finished the game on a 14-2 run to make
the final score 74-62.
Morrill and Carroll will continue their respective
pursuits of Aggie history at home with games against
Boise State Thursday and Idaho Saturday Both games tip
off at 7:05 p.m. in the Spectrum.
Morrill needs one win to break his tie for career
wins and Carroll now needs 31 points to own the career
scoring record.
"Good thing is maybe Jaycee will break his record
at the same time and we'll just talk about him," said
Coach Morrill.
Utah State is now the lone WAC team undefeated in
conference play.
Jaycee Carroll ended the game 31 points shy of breaking
the USU career record for points. / Photo by Seili
Lewis
MS
MS |
