Utah State 100, Montana-Western 66
LOGAN, Utah
-(USU Media Relations) Utah State hit the century mark for the first time since 2005 on the way to a 100-66 rout of Montana Western Wednesday night in a non-conference men’s basketball game at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. The start of the second half was delayed 45 minutes to replace a backboard that shattered during warm-ups.
Four players in double-digits paced the Aggies to their 30th-straight home win, improving to 24-3 overall on the season, and hitting the century mark for the first time since Jan. 25, 2005, a 102-66 win. It was the 96th time in school history hanging triple digits on the scoreboard and USU is now 87-9 when doing so.
Wednesday was just the second-ever meeting between the Aggies and Bulldogs, last meeting on Nov. 12, 2007.
Senior guard Brian Green tallied his fourth 20-point game of the season with 20 points as he tied a season and career-high by netting six three-pointers on 6-of-8 shooting, leading USU to a season-best 13 treys. It also ties the second-most in school history, marking the eighth time hitting 13 three’s, last doing so on Dec. 12, 2009. Senior forward Tai Wesley matched Green with 20 points, his fifth outing of the year with 20 points and marking USU’s second game this season with two 20-point scorers in the same game. Wesley also took over sole possession of the No. 3 spot on USU’s career 10-point games list with his 94th double-digit game Wednesday, breaking away form a tie with former Aggie Kendall Youngblood (1989-92).
Fellow senior forward Nate Bendall added a season-high 15 points to go with nine rebounds, one board shy of his third double-double of the year. Fellow forward, junior Brady Jardine added 11 points off the bench, as the Aggie reserves out-scored their counterparts, 48-28, a season-high scoring output for the USU bench.
Montana Western was led by Cody Thueringer’s 17 points, hitting five three-pointers, while Brandon Brown added 11 points. Bridger Chambers led the Bulldogs with four rebounds.
USU had a 46-27 rebounding advantage over Montana Western. The Aggies also dished out a season-best 27 assists, and just shy of the top 10 in the record books. Junior guard Brockeith Pane distributed six helpers, and senior guard Pooh Williams dished out five, while senior guard Tyler Newbold and freshman guard James Walker III had four assists each.
The Aggies made a season-high field-goals on the way to a 37-of-65 (56.9 percent) field goal shooting effort, hitting 13-of-22 (59.1 percent) from three-point range. It was USU’s seventh game hitting at least half of its shots from behind the arc. Utah State was also 13-of-17 (76.5 percent) at the free throw line.
Montana Western shot 37.5 percent (24-of-64) from the field, making just 11-of-33 (33.3 percent) from three-point range. The Bulldogs were also 63.6 percent (7-of-11) at the charity stripe.
The Aggies opened an 11-2 lead on a Jardine dunk at the 15:52 mark. Walker later had a block on the defensive end, then went coast-to-coast for the layup to put USU on top by double-digits for the first time at 18-7, the Aggies’ eighth field goal of the game, but first without an assist. Green capped a 13-0 USU run with a three-pointer from the right corner with 7:10 to go for a 31-10 Aggie advantage, their first 20-point lead of the night. Newbold hit his second trey of the night, netting one from the right wing with 36 seconds left to send USU into halftime leading, 44-25.
After the extended intermission, which included swapping out the basket standard and bringing in a back-up, USU opened a 26-point lead at 53-27 on back-to-back buckets by Bendall and Wesley. The Bulldogs clawed at the gap, cutting it to 16 at 59-43 with 13:26 remaining after Thueringer hit a three-pointer on four-straight possessions, and Brown hit four points. That would be the closest they would get as Green netted consecutive treys. Jardine netted his first career three-pointer from the top of the arc for USU’s first 30-point lead at 79-47 with 9:26 remaining and the Aggies coasted to the win. Sophomore guard E.J. Farris hit a fancy up-and-under layup for Utah State’s biggest advantage of the night at 97-59 with 2:21 to go and senior forward Matt Formisano hit a free throw at the 1:03 mark to hit the century mark.
Utah State continues its two-game break from Western Athletic Conference action by playing at St. Mary’s, who is ranked No. 23 in the ESPN/USA Today Top 25 Poll, in an ESPNU BracketBuster game on Saturday, Feb. 19 in a 7 p.m. (MT) game on ESPN2. The Aggies return home and resume WAC play on Saturday, Feb. 26, welcoming Idaho to the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum for Senior Night in USU’s home finale.
Fresno State 73, Cal State Bakersfield 55
BAKERSFIELD, Calif
. -(FS Media Relations) In front of its largest crowd of the season, the Cal State Bakersfield squad was looking for revenge against Valley rival Fresno State on Wednesday night at the Rabobank Arena. Despite some hot shooting early and building a double-digit lead, Fresno State chipped away at the large deficit, erasing it late in the first half and scored the first 10 points of the second half to roll to an easy 73-55 win.
The Roadrunners made five threes in the first half, all by Alex Johnson, and owned leads of 19-10 and 26-16 early on.
Freshman guard Tyler Johnson made three consecutive free throws, that was followed by two driving layups by Jonathan Wills and a Greg Smith three-point play cut the lead to 30-29 with 4:20 remaining before halftime.
Smith stole the ball on CSUB's next possession and found Tim Steed for a lay-up and the Dogs briefly held a 31-30 lead. The Roadrunners regained the lead 37-34 at intermission.
Unlike the first game between the two schools in which Fresno State dominated the boards by a 52-26 count, the Roadrunners dominated the glass in the first half with a 26-13 edge.
The Bulldogs stormed of the locker room and took control of the game. Ned Golubovic scored his first basket of the game on Fresno State's first possession of half. Steed nailed a pull-up jumper from 12 feet in transition to give the Dogs a 38-37. After consecutive baskets by Smith and another by Steed, the Dogs scored the first 10 points of the half for a 44-37 lead.
Steed added two three pointers in a two minute stretch and finished with 23 points. The Dogs boosted their lead to 63-53 with 6 minutes remaining and held the Roadrunners to just 18 points in the second half.
"Defensively we really locked them up in the second half," said head coach Steve Cleveland. "We had some guys really step up. Jonathan Wills, Tim Steed and Tyler Johnson all really came in played well when we needed them to. This is one of those games that can be scary when you get out of the league in the middle of the season and it doesn't seem as important. These are tough games to get ready for so I'm really pleased to go on the road in a good environment and get a win."
The Roadrunners are a Division I independent program that had not played since the Feb. 7 game against the Dogs at the Save Mart Center, a 30-point Bulldog victory.
North Dakota 76, Louisiana Tech 73
GRAND FORKS, N.D
- Despite a career-best 27 points by freshman guard Kenyon McNeaill, the Louisiana Tech men's basketball team fell at North Dakota 76-73 Wednesday at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
McNeaill was 8-of-13 from the field and 7-for-9 from three-point range. His seven three's were the second-most ever made by a Bulldog. The Conway, Ark. native also added five rebounds, three assists and three steals.
"Kenyon did some great things," said head coach Kerry Rupp said. "He's a guy that is getting better every game. Defensively he was picking the ball up full court and being a warrior."
Junior forward Olu Ashaolu finished the game with his 14th double-double of the season. He had 14 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Senior guard DeAndre Brown joined in the double-figure scoring with 11 points and tied a career-high with four steals.
The Bulldogs outshot the Fighting Sioux 46.3 percent to 39.1 percent. It was the first time that Tech shot better than its opponent and lost (10-1).
Both teams held leads of at least 13 points, but it went down to the final minute of play as Tech dropped its record to 11-16 and UND improved to 13-11.
"We established a game plan and came out with energy, but it is becoming a habit to lift our foot off the gas," Rupp said. "We struggled to score and then when we started to score in the second half, it was too little too late. It takes mental toughness and physical toughness to stay with the gameplan."
Louisiana Tech jetted out to a 17-4 lead in the opening eight minutes of the game following a pair of Ashaolu free throws. For the rest of the half, the Bulldogs were outscored 22-9 and went into halftime tied 26-26.
Both teams shot 34.6 percent (9-26) from the field in the first half.
UND scored 12 of the first 16 second half points including the first seven to lead 41-30. The Fighting Sioux held their largest lead of the game at 15, 48-33 with 11:21 remaining.
McNeaill then began to heat up from the field. He scored Tech's next 12 points and J.L. Lewis added a field goal to cut the deficit to six points at 53-47 with 6:50 to play.
UND increased its lead to 61-49 before Tech cut the deficit back to single digits. Ashaolu hit his first field goal of the game with 2:55 remaining and then threw down a dunk with 2:13 remaining as Tech trailed 66-59.
With under a minute to play, the game got interesting as the McNeaill hit his sixth three of the night to make the score 69-64 in favor of the Fighting Sioux. Ashaolu then hit a layup and then picked up a loose ball and drove for two more points to pull Tech within two points with 34 seconds remaining.
McNeaill drained his final three of the night to pull Tech within one point, 73-72 with eight seconds to play. Following a Tech foul, UND hit its free throws as it had all night going 36-for-46 for the game (78.3 percent). Trailing 76-73 with three seconds left, McNeaill hit one free throw and attempted to miss the second on purpose, but a lane violation on the Bulldogs squandered the opportunity to grab a rebound and tie the game.
Jamal Webb led the Fighting Sioux with 14 points and nine rebounds.
Tech shot 72.7 percent (16-22) from the free throw line and 50.0 percent (7-14) from three-point range.
The Bulldogs will continue their string of non-conference play on Saturday as they host Georgia State at 3 p.m.