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Show Monday, Dec. 6, 2010 Page 8 MondayS110 Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.utahstatesman.com Aggies fall apart in second half to No. 14 Georgetown By TYLER HUSKINSON web editor Aggie Head Coach Stew Morrill might be rethinking whether to schedule guarantee games anymore. Senior guard Chris Wright scored 21 points on 6-of-9 shooting to lead the No. 14 Georgetown Hoyas over the Utah State Aggies Saturday, 68-51. Everything went wrong that could have possibly gone wrong for the Aggies, but turnovers and stagnant offense doomed the Aggies from the start of the second half. "Georgetown is obviously good and obviously very talented, but I was disappointed that we didn't play smarter," Morrill said. "I didn't think we played a very smart game. We hung in for a half and we were keeping ourselves close mixing our defenses, running a little time and some of those kinds of things. We never had an opportunity to do much of that in the second half, the game was really over about five or six minutes in." The Aggies uncharacteristically committed 15 turnovers, and many of those turnovers were caused by a Georgetown press similar to what the Aggies see almost every game. "It's a three-quarterscourt press," senior guard Tyler Newbold said. We see that a lot, and for some reason we didn't handle it the way we needed to. They do have athletic guys; that's part of the problem. We're a good basketball team too, and if we're playing the way we can and are mentally tough and taking care of the ball, we shouldn't have as much of a problem with that kind of thing." Morrill said, "That's one of our problems, not being very smart. We've always been a good assist-to-turnover ratio team, but we're not right now. We'll get better, but as an experienced of a team as we've got, you'd think we'd take a little bit better care of the ball." Not playing smart also caused the Aggies to get into foul trouble, and the Hoyas were able to capitalize as they shot 20-of-27 from the charity stripe. The Aggies were only 4-of-8 from the free-throw line. For the second consecutive game, Aggie senior forward Tai Wesley found himself in foul trouble. Against Denver the senior forward only scored seven points in 27 minutes of play, and against Georgetown Wesley scored eight points in 20 minutes of play and fouled out with just more than 10 minutes remaining in the game. "How many points and minutes did Tai Wesley get on this trip?" Morrill said. "That's ridiculous. You're a fifth-year senior. Stay on the floor." The Aggies were able to keep things close in the first half and even held the lead a few times. USU led 13-10 midway through the first half when sophomore guard E.J Farris fouled Hoyas junior guard Jason Clark on a 3-point attempt. Clark would hit all three freethrows to spur a 12-0 run that put the Hoyas up for good. Senior forward Pooh Williams nailed a 3-pointer at the end of the first half to bring the Aggies within four points, but that is as close as the Aggies would get to the Hoyas. The Hoyas started the second half on a 15-2 run in the first seven minutes to put the game completely out of reach. "In the second half they hit us in the mouth at the beginning of the half, and we laid an egg," Newbold said. "We didn't respond and you get too far down in another team's building like this and it's going to be hard to come back." Morrill said, "We didn't play well enough in the second half to even give ourselves a chance. Credit them, their speed, their size all that bothered us, but we've got to play better than that." Does a guarantee-game like this help out the Aggies in the future? "I'm not sure of that," Morrill said. "If we can get back to the NCAA Tournament, at least we have experienced this type of athleticism, but to come in here, you get beat and they're not coming back. That's the danger of not getting a return game. I'm not sure. Maybe it is. For some people it is. Once in a while, what does it hurt to get a game like this?" Newbold said, "Hopefully games like this will definitely help us. We better continue to learn from games like this. Understand that we're not that great right now. We gotta continue to practice, continue to get better and continue to improve if we want to get where we want to be this year." The Aggies now prepare for the Long Beach State 49ers at home on Tuesday. GEORGETOWN SENIOR GUARD CHRIS WRIGHT slashes to the basket during Saturday's game against Utah State. Wright scored 21 points and made six of nine shots from the field and shot 810 from the free throw line in becoming the only player to score in double-figures in the game. AP photo The Aggies lost to the 49ers on the road last season, 7562, and the Aggies will be looking for more revenge against the 49ers. Tip-off against the 49ers is slated for 7:05 p.m. in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. For a full preview of Tuesday's game against Long Beach State, visit www.usustatesman.com . — ty.d.hus@aggiemail.usu.edu Broncos upend Aggies in 50-14 blowout in Boise One and done: Cal beats USU in NCAAs By ADAM NETTINA sports editor The million-dollar question of the week was how Boise State was going to come back from last Friday night's historic loss to Nevada. It didn't take long for Boise State to answer the question, as Derrell Acrey picked off Diondre Borel on the game's first play from scrimmage to set the tone as Boise State (11-1, 7-1 WAC) rolled over Utah State (4-8, 2-6 WAC) to capture a share of the Western Athletic Conference title. In taking down Utah State 50-14 on senior day, the Broncos not only concluded their third-straight season with 11 wins or more, but made a strong case that last week's meltdown, which saw kicker Kyle Brotzman miss a chance to defeat Nevada in regulation, was little more than fluke. For the Aggies, the loss concludes a disappointing season dominated more by news of injuries than wins, and wraps up a decade of losses to the Broncos, who will transition to the Mountain West Conference next season. Utah State struggled from the get-go with the Broncos, managing just 41 passing yards against the Bronco defense. Aggie signal caller Borel, who finished a mere 4-of-15 on the afternoon, threw two interceptions, including Acrey's on the game's first play. "That was awesome," said Boise State running back Jeremy Avery of the early swing in momentum. "That is how you start the game off. From there it was like 'let's go.'" It didn't take long for Boise to build off of Acrey's touchdown. Only a few minutes after the 31-yard interception return, Boise State's offense struck when quarterback Kellen Moore hit tight end Kyle Efaw in the back of the endzone. A subsequent twopoint conversion gave the Broncos a 15-0 lead just halfway through the first quarter. "When you're playing Boise, or any very, very good football team, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out you can't go down 15-nothing," said Utah State head coach Gary Andersen, whose team ends the season 4-8 for the second consecutive year. Andersen's Aggies fought back later in the first quarter when running back Kerwynn Williams converted a fourth-and-one by taking an off-tackle run play 40 yards for a touchdown. Williams spearheaded a 250-yard rushing day for the USU offense, By MARK ISRAELSEN staff writer ; 4 -A110466~611110606A4.641 1•16,4■141,111114)411*IP64.4 " 4iirvfoloikiW*1404441SIIN*44,00.4..410"......1411(1111111dii UTAH STATE RUNNING BACK KERWYNN WILLIAMS is brought down by a pair of Boise State defenders during the Aggies' 50-14 loss Saturday against the Broncos.Williams rushed for career-high 147 yards in the game, including a 40-yard run for the Aggies' first touchdown of the game. AP photo capping off a career day by rushing for 147 yards and a touchdown on just 19 carries. The sophomore, filling in after senior Derrvin Speight went down early in the first quarter with injury, also set new WAC and NCAA kick-return yards records in the game, finishing with 1,444 kickoff return yards on the season. Andersen said the Aggies need more players like Williams if the team is to final get over the hump of losing and finish a season above .500. "We need more young men — not just athletically — in the program that have the fight, the want-to, the consistency you get out of Kerwynn," Andersen said. "That extra edge you have in a tremendous competitor, Kerwynn Williams brings to the table every day. Not just game day, he brings it in practice every single day." Williams was pleased with his performance and his new record, but unhappy with the circumstances under which they came. Knowing Speight's final Aggie football game was over just minutes after it began wasn't the way in which Williams envisioned having his coming out party. "I'd rather it had been the different way — especially it being Derrvin's last game as an Aggie — I'd rather it had been the other way around where he had an amazing day," Williams said. I See BUCKED, page 9 All good things must come to an end. The Utah State Volleyball team learned that principle firsthand as their magical season finally came to an end Friday night. The Aggies lost in straight sets to No. 4 California in their first-round match of the NCAA tournament, ending their six-game winning-streak and their season. Despite the early-round loss, this Aggie team has no reason to be disappointed. The Aggies' 24-9 record this year is the most wins for the program since 1982, and even more impressive compared to their record last year, when they went 15-14 and failed to even make the WAC tournament. This year, USU also captured its first-ever WAC championship, stunning No. 3 Hawaii in the championship game, and their NCAA tournament berth is only the fourth in school history, and the first since 2005. "I really enjoyed this group of kids," said head coach Grayson DuBose. "As good as they are at volleyball they're probably even better people. I See SPIKED, page 9 |