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Show Monday, Nov. 30, 2009 Page 13 MondaySpor Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.aggietownsquare.com Aggies stomp Southern Utah By TIM OLSEN sports editor Returning from the Thanksgiving break, Utah State (3-2) shook off a sluggish first half and exploded to roll over in-state foe Southern Utah Saturday, 89-49. Freshman Preston Medlin had his best game as an Aggie and junior Pooh Williams continued his strong play as the two matched each other with a game-high 17 points. Things did not start out great for USU, though, as the visiting Thunderbirds used a zone defense to slow down the Aggie offense and force jump shots. The stingy defense shut down the powerful inside duo first half — the Thunderbirds held a 6-2 advantage in that category at the break — but they were struggling to rebound, period. USU has won the rebounding battle in every game its played this year, but was down 19-11 in that category at the half. "For whatever reason, we were not as geared up as we should have been in the first half, and I was concerned about that all day today," Morrill said. "The second half we obviously got it going and played much better." Much better would be putting it mildly. The Aggies opened the second half with a 18-0 run that turned a game that had been close into a blowout. That run was POOH WILLIAMS DS UP on a Southern Utah player. Williams tied for the gamehigh with 17 points. Freshman Preston Medlin was the other Aggie to score 17 on the T-Birds. PATRICK ODEN photo of Tai Wesley and Nate Bendall in the first half, holding the pair to a combined three shots and eight points. "Two totally different halves on our part," USU head coach Stew Morrill said. "I thought Southern Utah had a good idea to come out and zone us and see how we handled it, and we didn't handle it very well. We missed a lot of shots and didn't get any offensive rebounds." In fact, not only were the Aggies struggling to get any offensive rebounds in the anchored by a revived defensive effort that shut down the T-bird shooters and held SUU scoreless for nearly seven minutes. USU's run started with a return to its post game as Wesley, Bendall and junior Matt Formisano all scored inside. Formisano punctuated the run with a steal and coast-to-coast layup before SUU's Scott Friel finally broke the drought on a pick-and-roll layup. "The big thing at halftime was defense and rebounding, that's really what this team is about," Williams said. "If we play defense and rebound our offense will take care of itself and everybody on the team. We know that. That's what got us that run." In only his third game back from foot surgery, Williams played a season-high 23 minutes and connected on 6-of-7 field goal attempts, including going 4-of-5 from beyond the arc. Despite his hot shooting the best thing about Williams is his ability to drive and create shots for others, Morrill said, not to mention his ability to be a lockdown defender. Morrill also said he was happy to see Medlin connect on some shots after playing timidly during the Aggies' first few games. "It was encouraging to see a freshman like Preston Medlin check in and make some shots. He had no prep for Southern Utah. He was on the scout squad," Morrill said. "One thing he can do is shoot the ball, and we checked him in and made some shots and that certainly helped us." Medlin missed his first attempt, but finished 5-of-8 from the floor with all five being 3-pointers. "I know that I can shoot the ball and that if I keep shooting, it will go in," Medlin said. "I try to carry that over from game to game and keep shooting and keep my confidence up. For the second straight game, the Aggies kept their turnovers in single digits, as they only gave the ball away seven times. USU also had the most assists it's had this season as the Ags finished the game with 26 dishes. The 40-point margin of victory is the largest for the Aggies so far this season, and comes after a 33-point victory against Idaho State (77-44) Tuesday. Against the Bengals, Wesley, who tallied 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting, led the Aggies. USU now must prepare for what could be its toughest home stand of the season as undefeated rival BYU makes its first trip I See STOMP, page 16 Ending on the right note "A wild ride." That's what Utah State head football coach Gary Andersen called Saturday's game after the Aggies' (4-8) thrilling 52-49 victory over the Idaho Vandals (7-5). The win gave the Aggies three conference wins for the second consecutive year and was their first road win since 2007. The four wins were also USU's most in seven years. Robert Turbin led the Aggies as the sophomore phenom scored five touchdowns as the Aggies battled back for the win. He rushed for 113 yards and three touchdowns on 24 carries and had 70 receiving yards and two touchdowns on two catches. Junior quarterback Diondre Borel also had a huge day for the Aggies, as he completed 18-of-29 passes for 369 yards and four touchdowns to go along with no interceptions. With his big day, Borel moved into the No. 1 spot in USU history for total offense in a single season. USU started the game against the Vandals very well, as the Aggies used big plays and stingy defense to jump ahead of the home team 31-7. Borel hit wide receiver Xavier Bowman for an 85-yard touchdown midway through the first quarter — a season long — then connected with Turbin for a 48-yard strike to put the Aggies up 21-7 at the end of the opening period. Turbin scored again on a 22-yard pass early in the second quarter, and Chris Ulinski connected on a 48yard field goal to end a 24point Aggie run that put the Aggies up by that margin with 8:43 remaining in the first half. The Vandals absorbed the blow, however, and came roaring all the way back. Led by junior quarterback Nate Enderle, the home team scored four straight touchdowns on four straight possessions — two to end the first half and two to open the second — as they stormed back to take their first lead of the game, 35-31, with four minutes remaining in the third quarter. "The bottom line, they got back into the football game with our inability to get pressure on the quarterback," said Andersen in a postgame radio interview. Enderle finished the game with 262 yards and three touchdowns on 16-of-25 passing before leaving early in the fourth quarter with an injury. DIONDRE BOREL RUNS THE option against Boise State earlier this year against Boise State in Romney Stadium. Borel and the USU football team closed out their season with a win over Idaho on Saturday. PATRICK ODEN photo Despite giving up the big lead — something the Aggies have become all too familiar with this season after holding fourth quarter leads in three of their five WAC losses — USU did not give up. "This win was unbelievable, and I think once again it goes back to the toughness our kids have," Andersen said. "You can cave in (during) a football game like that very easily mentally, and if you cave in mentally, you've absolutely got no shot." Following the lead change, the Aggies — in what may become a defining moment for this young team — marched right down the field where Turbin punched it in for his second rushing touchdown of the game. After battling back from so far down, the Vandals, who had only lost one home game all season weren't about to let this one slip away. Backup quarterback Brian Reader connected with Maurice Shaw for Shaw's Former Aggies earn recognition in Canada BY USU ATHLETICS GAME 12: USU 52, IDAHO 49 By TIM OLSEN sports editor Touch Base second TD reception to put the home team back up, 4238, with 9:41 remaining. Shaw and fellow wideout Max Komar had their way with the Aggie secondary much of the day as the pair combined for four touchdowns and finished with 131 yards and 110 yards receiving, respectively. "That was an old fashioned WAC shootout that reminds me of games I used to watch when I was about 8 or 9 years old, growing up watching the WAC," Andersen said. Following Shaw's touchdown, the big play struck again for the Aggies. Sophomore receiver Stanley Morrison took a screen pass from Borel, weaved through traffic and then outran the remainder of the Vandal defense 75 yards to the end zone. "Stanley's got legit speed in this league, there's no question. As soon as he caught it Kevin McGiven said, 'That's it, they're not going to catch him,' and I saw all those guys had angles and I was like Kevin, you're dreaming babe," Andersen said. "But he outran them all, and it really wasn't even close at the end." On the Vandals ensuing possession, the Aggies II See NOTE, page 16 Two former Utah State football players earned the Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year awards in the Canadian Football League, and the two will square off in Sunday's Grey Cup game. Quarterback Anthony Calvillo of the Montreal Alouettes will face defensive end John Chick and the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Calvillo earned the CFL's Offensive Player of the Year honor while Chick was named the Defensive Player of the Year. It was the second-straight season for Calvillo to earn the Offensive Player of the Year award and the third time in his 16-year career to collect the honor. It was Chick's first honor in his three-year career. Calvillo posted a banner season, completing a stellar 72 percent of his passes in helping lead Montreal to a CFL-best 15-3 record. His passing completion average was a career-best. Calvillo also posted a league-high 108.4 quarterback rating and he also threw just six interceptions in 550 pass attempts, the fewest picks given up by a CFL starter. Calvillo anchored an Alouette offense that led the CFL in scoring (33.3 ppg), passing (288.4 yards), touchdowns (50) and passing TDs (33). During the regular season Chick recorded 11 sacks and forced four fumbles. He had 32 defensive tackles, including five tackles for a loss, five pass break-ups and four forced fumbles, as well as two special teams' tackles. The 97th Grey Cup game, from Calgary's McMahon Stadium, kicks off at 4:30 p.m. (MT) on Sunday, November 29. Check local listings for broadcast information. Fans in the U.S. can also see the game live on ESPN360. corn. An archived version of the game will be available for a fee of $3.95 U.S. to fans outside of Canada at www.CFL.ca , 72 hours after USU's fall class called the best in the WAC BY USU ATHLETICS Utah State's fall recruiting class for men's basketball has been tabbed as the best in the Western Athletic Conference according to ESPN.com, it was recently announced. The results are based solely on high school players. Utah State announced three players during the early signing period including a pair of prep stars in Ben Clifford and James Walker. USU also signed one junior college player in Brockeith Pane. Clifford is a 6-8, 215pound senior forward at Bingham High School in South Jordan, Utah, and Walker is a 6-2, 180pound senior guard at Los Alamitos High School. |