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Show heard the :. J Carroll becomes new king of scoring as Aggies win By SAMMY H1SLOP sports editor The shot didn't come until almost seven minutes had passed in Saturday night's game against Idaho. Aggie senior Jaycee Carroll curled off a screen just above the 3-point line on the left corner of the court—as he's done hundreds of times before. With an Idaho Vandal defender right in his face, Carroll's shot bounced twice before falling through the net to give him Utah State's alltime scoring record, followed instantly by an near ear-damaging applause from the sellout crowd. "There's definitely something to say about that, having a soft touch on the rim, and luckily the ball bounces around and drops in sometimes," Carroll said. "I'd rather not hit the rim, but you can't do that every time." Carroll ended with 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting and now has 2,147 points as an Aggie. His performance, along with Tai Wesley's 23 points and Gary Wilkinson's 13 rebounds, propelled Utah State (14-5, 4-0 in Western Athletic Conference games) past the Vandals for a 79-64 victory. "Obviously we had a little extra motivation with Jaycee's thing," Aggie head coach Stew Morrill said. "The last thing any of us wanted was for him to USU SENIOR G U A R D JAYCEE CARROLL is carried around the court by teammates Gary Wilkinson and Tai Wesley after USU beat the Idaho break the record at home with Vandals, 79-64 in the Spectrum. Carroll dropped in 21 points on the night and became USU's all-time leading scorer with his first shot of the game—a a loss. So, those two things are done—his deal, my deal—now we can move on with the season." Just after the game ended, Carroll was honored near mid-court by the former Aggie career points leader, Greg Grant, athletic director Randy Spetman and USU President Stan Albrecht. A five-minute video was put on theJumboTron recounting Carroll's accomplishments. "I was really glad to see (Grant) here,'" Carroll said. "I thought it was really cool of him to come back after 25 years, or however long it's been since he played and be here for this night. For him to come over and congratulate me and give me a hug, everything about that was very memorable to me and one of the things I'll remember most about tonight." -\As for the game, Utah Statecrushed Idaho (4-13,1-5 in WAC) in more than a few categories. One of the foremost of those was rebounding, where the Aggies enjoyed a 35-19 advantage. "We have (USU assistant) coach (James) Ware just harping on us every day, every timeout, every second of the game (to rebound)," said Wesley, who recorded four boards. Utah State also made 60 percent of its field goals as opposed to the Vandals' 44 percent, drained 62.5 percent of its 3-pointers to the Vandals' 40 percent; and converted 84 [J See THE SHOT, page 17 3-pointer. Carroll now has 2,147 points in an Aggie uniform. TYLER LARSON photo o \ BySETH R.HAWKINS editor in chief Idaho improvement At almost the opposite record of USU at 4-13, the Idaho-Vandals are still a vastly improved team from a year ago, USU head coach Stew Morrill said. "Their personnel has improved," Morriil'said. "I think they're running great stuff. George (Pfeifer, Idaho head coach) is coaching them, and they're just a lot better team than they were a year ago and that's what their goal is, lo just keep getting better and they are getting better for sure." In the 2006-07 sfeasoir, the Vandals posted a 4-27 season, claiming oiily one victory against a Western Athletic Conference opponent in San Jose State. This year, though off to a similarly slow start, Idaho has already bested Louisiana Tech and still has the majority of the WAC season .ahead of itM . .. • '•' '-^But Idaho hasn't had an easy go at this season ^either. Boasting;one of the toughest schedules in to b \ :\ n \ :\ \ r the WAC, which is at the bottom of the NCAA totem pole in schedule strength, the Vandals have played three ranked teams this season. They dropped a 43-80 contest against Gonzaga, ranked 14th at the time, fell 43-74 to 9th-ranked Washington State and lost a 65-76 battle against 24th-ranked Arizona State. Though their losses triple their wins, the Vandals' average win margin is less than 5 points, with some of the closest matches coming against WAC opponents. Going on the road If there's no place like home, then there's nothing more alien than two straight road games - a first for'the Aggies since early December against Utah and Cal State Bakersfield. Since then, Utah State has enjoyed home-court advantage for eight straight games, partly due to a postponed match against Nevada due to poor weather conditions. Home-court advantage means more than Di See NOTEBOOK, page 17 0 T W O V I E W S OF JAYCEE CARROLL'S 3 - P O I N T S H O T at the 13:35 mark of the first half that broke the scoring record previously held by former Aggie great Greg Grant. TYLER LARSON photos |