March 13, 2008

Final Stats

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Four players in double figures plus an 8-0 run and a 9-0 spurt equaled victory for Utah State, as the top-seeded Aggies opened the quarterfinals of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament with a convincing 85-65 win over eighth-seeded San Jose State Thursday at the Pan American Center on the campus of New Mexico State.

The win was the Aggies' sixth-straight and improves Utah State to 24-9 overall. It also advances USU to Friday's semifinals, where head coach Stew Morrill's troops will face fourth-seeded Boise State at 6 p.m. (MT). Boise State beat fifth-seeded Hawai'i, 80-74, earlier Thursday. San Jose State ends its season with a 13-19 record.

With the victory, USU improved to 18-4 in conference tournaments over the last nine years, including 5-2 in WAC Tournament play.

Senior All-American guard Jaycee Carroll tallied a game-high 24 points, as the Evanston, Wyo., native drained 4-of-6 three-pointers, including two in the first half on his way to 14 points before intermission.

Carroll's 24 points gives him 2,487 career points, passing Danny Ainge to become the second-leading scorer in the history of the state of Utah. Keith Van Horn holds the top spot with 2,542 points and Van Horn also possesses the WAC all-time career points record.

Freshman guard Tyler Newbold (Payson, Utah) was 5-of-6 from three-point land, finishing the game with 19 points, one shy of his career high set on Jan. 26 in the same arena against New Mexico State.

Junior forward Gary Wilkinson (South Jordan, Utah) and freshman forward Tai Wesley (Provo, Utah) had 15 points and nine rebounds each, as USU was out-rebounded for the first time in six games, 33-28.

The Aggie defense tied a season-high for the third time this season with seven blocks, as Wesley tripled his career-high with six swats. The six blocks are tied for the second-most in the USU single-game records, and the most since Shawn Daniels' school-record seven rejections in 2001.

USU's defense also improved to 20-0 on the year when holding the opposition to under 70 points. With the winning margin of 20, the Aggies have now won their last six games by 13 or more points.

Offensively, Utah State shot 55.9 percent (33-of-59) from the field, tying a season-high with 62.5 percent (10-of-16) from three-point range. The Aggies also were 9-of-14 (64.3 percent) at the free throw line.

San Jose State hit 27-of-55 (49.1 percent) of its shots, including 2-of-7 (28.6 percent) behind the arc and the Spartans hit 9-of-15 (60.0 percent) of their free throws.

DaShawn Wright and C.J. Webster led SJSU with 16 points each with Webster snaring nine rebounds, tying USU's Wesley and Wilkinson for game-leading rebounding honors.

The Aggies came out blazing, as Newbold and Carroll played H.O.R.S.E., each hitting three-pointers from the same spots on each of the left and right wings to open a 19-8 lead, prompting a SJSU timeout.

Freshman guard Pooh Williams (Federal Way, Wash.) got into the three-point shooting contest, hitting a trey from the right wing, about the same spot as Carroll and Newbold's three's. Later, a steal and layup from junior guard Desmond Stephens (Bloomington, Ind.) put USU ahead 28-13.

After San Jose State trimmed the margin to 31-23, Utah State went on an 8-0 streak, capped by an up-and-under from Wesley and a baseline jump hook from Wilkinson, and the Aggies took a 39-27 lead into halftime.

A Newbold trey from the right wing followed by a three in the right corner by Carroll and USU had a 49-31 lead. SJSU scratched the deficit to 58-49 but another three-pointer from Newbold at the top of the arc and a Carroll steal and layup put the game out of reach at 21 at 70-49 and the Aggies cruised to their 14th conference tournament quarterfinal win.

Utah State basketball games are broadcast on KVNU (610 AM) and KLZX (95.9 FM) in Logan, Utah, KFAN (1320 AM) or ESPN Radio (1230 AM) in Salt Lake City and KLZX (105.3 FM) in Montpelier, Idaho, as well as on the internet at www.UtahStateAggies.com through Yahoo! Sports. Al Lewis serves as the play-by-play announcer with former Aggie legendary head coach Rod Tueller as analyst.

Fans can follow all the WAC Tournament games by live stats through the USU web site at www.UtahStateAggies.com, and clicking on "live stats" on the basketball schedule page.

All of the WAC Tournament games are available through wac.tv. All-tournament passes will be available for $24.95 and all men's and women's games with the exception of the men's final on Saturday, March 15 will be available live on WAC.tv. The men's championship game will be available exclusively on ESPN2. Individual tournament games may be purchased for $7.95 each.