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Show Monday, Nov. 22, 2010 Page 8 MondayS 0 Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.utahstatesman.com Green lights it up from deep as Aggies quiet T-birds tss te's'era;:seriojr By TYLER HUSKINSON web editor The Utah State Aggies (2-1) bounced back from their difficult road loss to BYU Saturday night as they defeated the Southern Utah Thunderbirds, 66-53. The Thunderbirds (1-2) have yet to win a game at home this season. Senior guard Brian Green led the Aggies with a career-high 19 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the floor and 4-of-6 shooting from 3-point range. "Brian Green is playing really well for us," Morrill said. "That is certainly helping us, when you have a guy making shots, and he is making shots. He is just such a terrific shooter, so confident and plays so hard. He's a fireball out there. He's an awfully fun kid to coach." Aggie senior forward Tai Wesley scored the first two points of the game, but the Thunderbirds responded with two free-throws and it looked like the Aggies were in for a battle. Two free-throws from senior forward Pooh Williams put the Aggies up by two, however, and they would lead the rest of the way. The Aggies played very stingy defense on the Thunderbirds especially in the first half. The Thunderbirds hit only 25 percent (5-of-20) of their shots from the field. They shot better in the second half, but the Aggies held them to just eight field goals. "I thought we played hard, which was a factor in us defending pretty well," Morrill said. "Other than No. 13 ( Ramell Taylor) getting away from us a little bit, our defense was pretty solid." Senior forward Taylor scored a game-high 22 points and 20 of those points came in the second half. He didn't get much help from his teammates however, as he was the only Thunderbird to reach double-digits. Senior guard Ryan Brimley was second best scorer, coming off the bench and scored nine points for the Thunderbirds. The Aggies stretched their lead to 10 points at the end of the first half, but seven straight points from Taylor to start the second half cut the Aggie lead to 36-32. The Aggies would respond however, as a Wesley lay-up sparked a 13-0 run that was capped by a fall away jumper from Williams. Green hit a 3pointer and four consecutive freethrows as a part of that run. "When you come down here, you know it's going to be a fight," Morrill said. "We are glad to get out of here with a win. Aside from Green, the Aggies struggled in the second half with free-throws, as they hit only 7of-12 attempts. The dismal freethrow percentage didn't affect the outcome this time around however, as the Thunderbirds committed too many turnovers. "We were close but then we stopped executing, too, which is also disappointing," Thunderbirds head coach Roger Reid said. "I thought we played hard but we've got to play smart, too. We can't let them control the game, and we did, we let them bump us and push us around, and we stopped executing." Wesley was the only other Aggie to reach double-digits, finishing with 12 points on the night. Wesley's 12-point performance moved him into 15th place all-time in school history. The Aggies will now prepare for two home games this week. The Aggies will face the University of Utah Utes on Wednesday and the Northeastern University Huskies on Saturday. The Aggies will be looking for revenge on both teams as they lost to the Utes on the road last season, 68-67, and they lost to the Huskies 64-61 last season on the road as well. Both games will tip off in the Spectrum at 7:05 p.m. wanting payback By TYLER HUSKINSON web editor The Aggies will be looking to avenge two close road losses from last season this week. They will take on the University of Utah Utes on Wednesday and the Northeastern University Huskies on Saturday. Aggies vs. Utes Keys to the game " — ty.d.hus@aggiemaiLusu.edu SHOOTING GUARD BRIAN GREEN lets a shot go from 3-point range during exhibition play against Laval earlier this season. Green shot 4-5 from behind the 3-point line to contribute to 12 of his 19 points against Southern Utah Saturday. TODD JONES photo 1. The Aggies must improve their free-throw percentage: They were able to make 8of-10 in the first half against the Southern Utah University Thunderbirds on Saturday, but sputtered in the second half as they only hit 7-of-12 shots for 58 percent. The Aggies did finish shooting at 68 percent, which is far better than the 57 percent they shot against the Brigham Young Cougars, but there is still room for improvement. 2. The Aggies will need big play from their big men: Aggie head coach Stew Morrill said the Cougars presented a huge problem with their size. If that was the case with the Cougars, the Aggies might be in trouble down low against the Utes if they don't plan on battling all night. The Utes' starting center, sophomore Jason Washburn, stands at 7'0" and junior backup center David Foster stands at 7'3". The Aggies will need to play strong and have a nose for the ball if they don't want to be dominated in post on both ends of the ball. 3. The Aggies had better not underestimate the Utes. Even though head coach Jim Boylen has lost some of his best players and best recruits, this is still and in-state battle and the I See PREVIEW page 9 Vandals team up with Mother Nature to spoil senior day By MARK ISRAELSEN staff writer For all the Aggie fans in attendance, Saturday night's football game was wet, cold and miserable; wet and cold because of the weather and miserable because of the play of their Utah State Aggies. In the last home game of the season, Utah State struggled to find a groove offensively and got thumped by the Idaho Vandals, 28-6. "It was an extremely disappointing loss," head coach Gary Anderson said. "We got beat soundly, and the score dictates what happened. That's not the way you want to send the seniors out." The Aggies came into the game with high hopes, as they had the opportunity to notch their first three-game winning streak since 2001, and their first five-win season since 2000. This game was also very important for the 23 seniors on the USU football team, as it would be their last chance to play in Romney Stadium. Before the game, all the seniors were honored for their accomplishments in helping to build the USU football program, but despite the improvement, a loss like that is hard to swallow. "It's tough," senior running back Derrvin Speight said. "I never thought my last game at Romney Stadium would go like this, but that's football, someone has to lose and unfortunately, it was us today." The Aggies came out in the first half and got on the board first when kicker Peter Caldwell knocked in a 44-yard field goal with 4:29 left in the first quarter. The drive leading to the field goal was anything but easy for Utah State though, as they twice had to convert on fourth down, the second conversion coming on a fake punt where QB Diondre Borel passed to linebacker Bobby Wagner for the first down. "I believe in being aggressive," Anderson said. "We were moving the ball decently, and I don't think that fake punt was overly risky. We executed it very well and got three points out of it." USU's lead didn't last long though, as Idaho's QB Nathan Enderle found WR Eric Greenwood in the end zone with eight seconds left in the first quarter for the first of their two touchdown hookups. Following the score it was Idaho's turn for a gutsy move, but their surprise onside kick attempt backfired and set up the Aggies in good field position. A Borel scramble and Idaho penalty set up Utah State in prime red zone scoring position on the 12-yard line, but once again the Aggies had to settle for three. "You have got to execute in the red zone," coach Anderson said after the game. "When you get in the red zone and only get three points twice, that is not winning the red zone, I don't care who you are. You have got to get to the end zone. Our production of red zone offense and defense against theirs was the difference in the game." Down 7-6 the Aggies began to struggle on the offensive end, whereas the Idaho offense was just getting started. Following the field goal, the Vandals marched down the field but the Aggies "D" saved a touchdown when senior cornerback Curtis Marsh picked off a pass in the end zone. "I think that defensively we did well in the first half," said junior linebacker Bobby Wagner. "In the second half I felt that we failed to execute on defense. Offensively, I feel like we struggled all game." The Vandals, led by quarterback Nathan Enderle, kept coming though, and with 1:18 left in the half Enderle found Greenwood in the end zone for another touchdown to make the halftime score 14-6. After a half where they trailed by eight and had only 37 passing yards, things couldn't get much worse for the Aggies, right? Wrong. Cue the weather. The second half started and so did the rain and snow, hardly something a struggling offense wants to see. During the snowy second half, the Aggies SOPHOMORE RUNNING BACK KERWYNN WILLIAMS chipped in 17 rushing yards and eight receiving yards on a total of seven touches during Saturday's 28-6 loss to Idaho. Williams was also responsible for 74 yards in the return game. TODD JONES photo offense was inconsistent and failed to take advantage of many opportunities. USU was held scoreless in the second half, and for only the second time all year, they finished the game without a touchdown. "I felt like we worked hard to establish our defensive and offensive lines but failed to get anything established," Speight said. "We failed to score in the red zone when we had chances early and that really hurt us." With 83 rushing yards on the day, I See VANDALIZED, page 9 |