Thursday, December 3, 2009

The WAC games last night

Here's the rundown:

Aggies pull away
Shawn Harrison
Herald Journal
December 3, 2009

With the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum rocking a good hour before tip-off, most of the sold-out crowd left happy Wednesday night.

The nation’s second-longest home winning streak is in tact. Utah State overcame a rough start and pulled away down the stretch against in-state rival BYU. The Aggies put a blemish on the Cougars perfect start with a 71-61 win in front of 10,270 fans to notch their 37th straight victory at home.

“It’s BYU, we don’t like them,” USU point guard Jared Quayle said with a chuckle. “We want to play hard against them and good against them. We want to take it to them, and we did tonight in the second half. We came out on top...”
Go here for the remainder.

and

Wesley Meacham/Herald Journal provides a feature on the Aggie key to the victory - Jared Quayle.
Quayle leads USU’s second-half charge
Wesley Meacham
Herald Journal
Published:
December 3, 2009

After trailing by three at the half, Utah State head coach Stew Morrill decided to stick to his big guns.

They didn’t let him down.

After using a balanced rotation of 10 players in the first half, Morrill reigned that back to just seven players in the second half. Morrill kept his five starters in the game for the majority of the time. In fact, the starters only sat for a combined 16 minutes in the second half...
Go here for the remainder.

and

Here's Jim Rayburn/Deseret News with his coverage:
Aggie defense holds Cougars to season low
Jim Rayburn
Deseret News
December 2, 2009

LOGAN — Was it the crowd? Utah State's defense? Or just BYU losing its composure to some extent and abandoning the offensive schemes that have helped the Cougars average 86 points per game this season?

Call it a combination of all of the above, and then some, in Utah State's 71-61 win over the Cougars at the Spectrum on Wednesday night.

Winning against the Aggies in one of the loudest and most hostile arenas in the land is no easy task. But it certainly isn't going to happen by shooting 31 percent in the second half, 12 percent from 3-point range, and making only four field goals in the final 10 minutes — and two of those came in the final minute of garbage time..
Go here for the remainder.

and

Jared Eborn does the same:
Aggies shoot past Cougars in second half
Jared Eborn
Deseret News
December. 2, 2009

LOGAN — Behind a smothering defense, some ice-cold shooting from its opponent and a second-half offensive outburst from Jared Quayle, Utah State stormed past BYU for a 71-61 win in front a frenzied crowd Wednesday night at the Spectrum to knock the Cougars from the ranks of the unbeaten.

And in the process, Aggie coach Stew Morrill reaffirmed his love for the loud crowd his team has grown accustomed to.

"The crowd is crazy," Morrill said. "It is as good as it gets in college basketball. We love this kind of atmosphere."

Utah State used a straight-up, man-to-man defense to stifle the Cougars over the final 20 minutes of the game and turn a three-point BYU lead into a going-away victory in front of a boisterous sellout crowd...
Go here for the remainder.

Plus, Brad Rock/Deseret News has his take on the game and the rivalry here.

Tony Jones/Salt Lake City Tribune offers a number of takes on the game with multiple blog entries.

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From the LA Tech athletics site comes this game review of the Bulldogs win over ULM:
Senior Kyle Gibson hits the game-winning three to beat ULM 76-73
Dec. 2, 2009

MONROE, La. - Senior Kyle Gibson's game-winning three-point shot was the deciding factor in Louisiana Tech's 76-73 win over ULM on Wednesday.

"That was a gutty performance by ULM," Tech head coach Kerry Rupp. "We had to claw and scratch to get that win. We used team play at the end of the game and when we do that, great things happen for us."

As it was in Tech's previous game at TCU, Gibson hit key free throws in the final minute. After a tying three by ULM with 15 seconds remaining, David Jackson found Gibson open for his fifth three of the game.

Gibson, a Los Angeles, Calif. native had 26 points and added seven rebounds. Senior Magnum Rolle led all players with 13 rebounds including nine offensive boards.

Tech withstood foul trouble and a season-high 23 points from ULM's Tony Hooper and improved to 6-1 on the season. ULM fell to 3-4.

ULM led 11-4 four minutes into the game. On a 14-4 run, the Bulldogs took an 18-15 lead, but the Warhawk's Hooper nailed his third three-point shot of the game to tie the contest at 18-18 with 11:15 remaining in the first half.

On an in-bounds pass from DeAndre Brown, freshman Darius Redding streaked towards the basket for an emphatic one-handed dunk. It gave Tech a 27-21 lead with 5:30 left in the half.

The Bulldogs withstood five three-pointers by Hooper, who had 17 first-half points, to take a 39-34 halftime lead. ULM was 6-11 from beyond the arc, but Tech owned the rebound margin at 24-15.

Tech used their defense to create offensive opportunies in the second half. Gibson stole a ULM pass and Guyton finished with a dunk to extend the lead to 48-37. ULM took advantage when Guyton slipped on the floor with the ball. The Warhawks converted on the layup and shrunk the lead to 51-47 with 12:50 remaining.

Tech went on a four-minute scoring drought before Brown hit a driving lay-up, was fouled and converted the free throw to lead 54-49 halfway through the second half.

ULM hit a free throw and for the first time since midway through the first half, ULM was within two points at 56-54.

Tech ran into foul trouble late in the game as Guyton and Olu Ashaolu both fouled out between the four and six minute mark.

On back-to-back Tommie Sykes two-foot jump shots, ULM tied the game at 68-68 with three minutes remaining.

Rolle became the third Bulldog to foul out of the game as he picked up his fifth with 1:19 remaining and a 71-69 lead. ULM hit two free throws to bring the Warhawks within one at 70-71 with a minute left. After two missed free throws by Brown, ULM's Hooper missed a three-pointer. After a ULM foul, Gibson went to the line and hit both free throws to give the Bulldogs a 73-70 lead with 32 seconds remaining.

ULM's Lawrence Gilbert hit a three to tie the game with 15 seconds remaining. That was enough time for Gibson to get open in the corner and receive a pass from Jackson to drain the game-winning three-point shot with no time left on the clock.

Brown finished with 16 points and Guyton with 10. Jackson provided a spark off the bench by hitting all four shots from the field and two free throws to score 10 points.
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Tom Connolly covered the Hawaii-Irvine matchup for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin last night and his report is here.

The Honolulu Advertiser has this game report on Hawaii's loss to UC Irvine.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

In case you missed it, here is post on the great signs by the students at the usu v. byu game:

http://www.cachevalleydaily.com/news/local/78397612.html