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Show Friday, Nov. 19, 2010 Page 8 FridayS110 Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.utahstatesman.com s Volleyball locks up third seed in WAC tournament By LANDON HEMSLEY staff writer UTAH STATE POINT GAURD BROCKEITH PANE attempts to drive to the basket during the Aggies' 78-72 loss at Brigham Yonug Wednesday night. Pane went just 2-11 from the field during 26 minutes of action, finishing with eight points and three rebounds.The No. 23 ranked Cougars were led by Jimmer Fredette, who scored 26 points, while Noah Hartsock added 15 points. USU falls to 1-1 with the loss, and will look to bounce back Saturday at 7:05 p.m. when they take on Southern Utah in Ceder City. BENJAMIN WOOD photo Fredette, Cougars overpower USU By TYLER HUSKINSON web editor Senior forward AllAmerican Jimmer Fredette scored 26 points to lead the No. 23 Brigham Young Cougars (2-0) over the Utah State Aggies (1-1) Wednesday night in the Marriott Center, 78-72. The Aggies kept things close the entire game, but miserable free-throw shooting and careless turnovers cost USU the game. "It was a good game," Aggie head coach Stew Morrill. "We came in and gave ourselves a chance. We played really hard. We make a few free-throws and it might have been a different story. We struggled at the line." Struggling at the freethrow line may be an under- statement. The Aggies shot 15- we've got to get away from. of-26 from the charity stripe Those are killing us in the for a dismal 57.7 percent. first half." "They are free points if you Wesley's last foul came can make them," senior forwith two minutes left in the ward Tai Wesley game and said. "I need to t Cougars the "We came in get in the gym up by three. and practice free- and gave ourWesley came selves a chance. down with throws." Wesley, who a defensive We played scored 19 points rebound and really hard. in 25 minutes tried to protect We make a few of playing time, the ball, but free-throws and instead the shot 1-of-6 from it might have the foul line and officials whisfound himself in been a different tled him for foul trouble most story." an intentional of the night. foul, giving the Stew Morrill, "Tai Wesley Cougars two USU head coach has got to stay on foul shots and the floor," Morrill possesion. said. "We can't have him out "There's a new rule about there for 25 minutes. That's swinging your elbows," not going to work for us. He Morrill said. "That's what was got a couple of cheap ones that called." Wesley said, "They said I have to keep my elbows in. I thought I tucked them." Junior forward Morgan Grim is the only Aggie on the roster to have played inside the Marriott Center (during his year at the U), but the Aggies were able to get strong performances against a solid team inside a tough environment. Senior guard Brian Green tallied 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the floor and 5-of-6 shooting from 3point range. "He was great," Morrill said of Green. "He was fired up like he always is. He came in firing. You give him just a little daylight and he'll knock it down." Senior guard Pooh I See BYU, page 9 Utah State volleyball imposed its will upon the New Mexico State Aggies Wednesday night, sweeping out the NewMags in straight sets, 25-21, 25-19, 25-20. Streaks are meant to be broken. The win was the first in the last 10 meetings between USU and NMSU in volleyball. The last time the blue Aggies triumphed against the crimson was in the WAC tournament semifinals of 2005. The win all but secured USU a third-place seeding for next week's WAC tournament. Technically, Idaho could tie USU's 9-7 WAC record by beating Hawaii on the road this weekend, but Hawaii is 15-0 in conference and will be playing Idaho on the islands. In this match, the Utags rode the stellar effort of Shantell Durrant, Liz McArthur, and Laurel Bodily to victory. Durrant ended the night with 10 kills and 8 blocks, while McArthur posted 10 kills and 12 digs. McArthur's double-double was her 13th of the season. Bodily scraped together 10 digs for the 18th double-dig performance of the season. But it was a series of USU blocks near the end of the first set that really set the tone of this match. NMSU took the lead from USU after executing with precision on a 6-1 run. With less and less room for a comeback, the set appeared to be slipping through the hands of the northern Aggies. That's when the Utags decided to throw a block party. New Mexico State started to set its spikes on the left side of the net. Three times they tried, three times they failed. Rocio Gutierrez was the first to try her luck, but she was triple blocked by the ladies in blue. That block leveled the score at 20 apiece. Two rallies later, the NewMags again went left, and again USU was there. Shay Sorensen, a sophomore from North Ogden, and Katie Astle, the senior from Sandy, were there to stop Kayleigh Giddens's attempt to drive it home. As if she hadn't learned anything from the previous encounter, Giddens tried to get past Sorensen and Astle again on the left end of the net and was subsequently shut down again by Sorensen and Astle. The Utags rode the wave of momentum to close out the first set 25-21. That momentum carried very well through the second set. USU jumped out to an early 8-2 lead and never trailed. McArthur had four kills in the second set, and USU as a team had a hitting percentage of .182. The sixpoint win in the second set put USU in a favorable position. The Aggies had only lost one time this year when getting up 2-0 on the opponent. The NewMags came into the third set looking awfully motivated to turn the match around. USU led 7-2 in the third, but then went on a 10-3 run to lead USU 12-10. After USU managed to tie the score at 13 apiece, the Aggies opened up on a run of their own, scoring six of the next seven points, breaking NMSU's spirit, and never looking back. USU has three days of rest before competing in the 2010 WAC Volleyball Tournament. The tournament will be held at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas on Monday, Nov. 22. — landon.hemsley@aggiemail.usu.edu Wesley's homecoming spoiled by foul call By TAVIN STUCK! staff writer Wednesday night was the only chance Aggie senior forward and Provo High School graduate Tai Wesley would have to beat Brigham Young in his hometown. Unfortunately for him, the end result was not what he would have wanted, BYU taking down Utah State 78-72. Wesley said he never missed a BYU home game in four years when he was watching his older brother Mekeli play in a Brigham Young uniform. "It did bring back a lot of memories," Wesley said of playing in the Marriott Center. "I saw my old seat where I used to sit and watch (Mekeli)." "The crowd was great," Wesley said. "Who wouldn't want to play basketball in this arena with that many people on top of you?" Despite the result, Wesley said the atmosphere during the game was awesome. "This one hurts," he said. "I'd rather be blown out than beaten like this." In a game that will be forever remembered for the intentional fifth foul called on Wesley — a call Utah State head coach Stew Morrill says anyone can "speculate on" all they like — there were other reasons the Aggies failed to put the game away. "(I) should have shot better free throws and rebounded better," Wesley said. "Bottom line, I have to shoot free throws better. I have to get into the gym and practice." Utah State made 15 of 26 from the charity stripe. The Aggies also turned the ball over 14 times compared to just nine for BYU. The Cougars took control of four more offensive rebounds than their opponents. "They out-rebounded us and that really was the difference," Wesley said. "That and we didn't make free throws." Few Aggie fans will remember that, though, instead of the foul that doomed the Aggies. With 2:05 left in the game and Utah State down by three, Wesley came down with a rebound and was quickly surrounded by several Cougar players trying to tie his arms up and take back the ball. In attempt to maintain possession, Wesley was whistled for throwing an elbow. "I was trying to protect the ball," Wesley said. "It's instinct. They were kind of swiping at it ... and when you get caught in the heat of battle you turn to your instincts." Because of a new rule, a player is not allowed to swing his elbows out wide. Both Wesley and Morrill said they were familiar with the rule. "They said I have to keep my elbows in," Wesley said. "I thought I tucked 'em, but apparently I didn't." The foul was Wesley's fifth and he was forced to finish the game from the bench, accompanied by the taunting "left, right, left, right" chant from the BYU student section as he took his seat. "Those fouls are killing us in the first half," Morrill said, "then I'm just trying to play him and trying to get him out before he gets his third. And you're just shaking the dice out there having him play with two." Wesley also had to be benched early in the victory over Weber State when he picked up two quick fouls at the start of the first half. "But what do you do when he gets two that quickly?" Morrill said. "He's got to quit fouling. I mean, it's been a deal his whole career. He's got to quit doing it. He doesn't have much time left." 'Because he is a senior, Wesley will not have another chance to win in Provo. The last time the Aggies took a victory from the Cougars' home court was when he was sitting on the bench with a redshirt watching his teammates trounce the home team by over 20 points. Despite the loss against BYU, Morrill said Wesley played well Wednesday. "He did a lot of good things," Morrill said. "I mean, they had to monster him because he was scoring at will. You look at his line for what did he play? Twenty-five minutes? He had an awfully good line. And it's hard to pass out of their double-team because it's big and it's hard to pass out of, but he made pretty good decisions." Wesley's senior season is still getting underway, and like the Utah State basketball team, he's ready to embrace the next challenge. "It's basketball. There's a winner and a loser," Wesley said. "It's frustrating, but we have a whole season to play and this isn't going to make or break our season." — tavin.stucki@aggiemaiLusu.edu UTAH STATE SENIOR FORWARD TAI WESLEY argues with a referee after a controversial foul call in Wenesday's loss to BYU. Wesley, a Provo native, led USU players with 19 points. BENJAMIN WOOD photo |