| Aggies
tie best start in school history at 20-1 with victory
over Nevada
By Craig Morris
January 30, 2009 | It took the Ags until the second
half to get things going, but once they did, the Wolf
Pack had no answer. Utah State beat Nevada, 72-61, in
the Spectrum to run its win streak to 15.
Utah State only shot 36.7 percent from the field in
the first half. That low percentage, combined with Nevada's
impressive 50 percent from the field, left the Aggies
trailing at halftime, 30-34. Six of the Ags' 10 turnovers
also occurred in the opening half.
The Aggies rode the back of Tai Wesley in the second
as he scored the first 11 points and grabbed the lead
back from the visiting Wolf Pack. Wesley ended the night
with 22 points, 16 after intermission.
As the raucous crowd willed their beloved Aggies into
the lead, they almost lost their swagger when Wesley
picked up a technical foul midway through the second
half.
"Armon Johnson was kind of running his mouth the
whole time, so he sticks out his elbow and tries to
give me a little elbow, so I pushed him," said
Wesley of the tech. "It just kind of happened that
I got caught."
Two minutes after Wesley had a seat on the bench,
Stavon Williams got busy. After scoring on a slashing
layup, Williams sent the crowd into a frenzy with back-to-back
threes, turning a 45-all knot into a 53-45 Aggie lead
in just over one minute of play.
"When I make a shot or two back to back, I feel
like everything is going in and the rim just feels so
big to me," said Williams. "Like throwing
rocks into the ocean."
To make matters worse for Nevada, a bypassed timeout
opportunity led to Brady Jardine's absolute dismissal
of Luke Babbitt's shot attempt from the baseline and
upped the roar of the fans in the Spectrum.
Williams said, "I got dizzy, man, the crowd got
so loud. I really forgot where I was at for a quick
second."
Contrary to the stated belief of Nevada's coach, Mark
Fox, the crowd once again played an enormous role in
game. Steve Cleveland learned that same lesson as the
Ags held on to beat his Fresno State Bulldogs in Logan,
65-61. The Aggies now hope to take some of the Spectrum
magic with them as they travel to Fresno for a Saturday
game.
Over the years some pretty amazing teams have graced
the hardwoods in Logan. But, a win on Saturday would
earn this Aggie team the best start in school history,
beating the 20-1 record of the 2003-04 team.
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