November 20th, 2009
SALT LAKE CITY — Jared Quayle scored a game-high 27 points Wednesday night, but the Utah State Aggies (1-1) committed 17 turnovers for the second consecutive game and this time it came back to bite them as they lost to rival Utah, 68-67.
USU, who had not won in the Huntsman Center since 2001, held a three-point lead at the half and a seven-point lead with less than 13 minutes to play. The Aggies let it slip away and they have no one to blame but themselves.
“We had just a bunch of silly turnovers and we had a lot of wide open shots that we didn’t make,” said USU Head Coach Stew Morrill. “What was most disappointing to me is we didn’t play like a veteran team. We played hard, we played really hard, but we didn’t play very smart.”
The turnover problem was especially prevalent in the second half when the Aggies doubled up the Utes in that category.
After the game Morrill acknowledged the Utah effort, but knew the Aggies had given one away.
“In all respect to Utah, and I don’t mean it any other way than that, but it feels like we gave one away there to me,” he said. “I’m sure they feel they made the shots and the plays to win, and I’d feel that way if I were them too. They did make some big shots. When you’re on our end looking at it, it’s like here, let me serve this game up to you on a silver platter.”
From the opening tip the contest was a tightly contested one. The Utes (1-1) jumped out to an early five-point lead, but that was the largest lead for either team in the opening period.
After Utah’s quick start, the Aggies turned up the pressure on the defensive end, holding the home team scoreless for nearly seven minutes. That allowed the Aggies to go on a run towards the end of the first half spurred by five points from Quayle that put the Aggies in front, 29-26, heading into the locker room.
“I personally wanted to come out and be more aggressive, try to get to the rim more and try to get to the foul line,” said Quayle of his assertive style of play.
In the second half Quayle picked up where he left off, scoring 11 of the Aggies first 15 points of the period. For a while Quayle was in a duel with Ute forward Carlon Brown. Brown led the Utes with 22 points on 8-of-19 shooting, and came up with a big basket anytime Utah was in need of one.
Though much faster-paced than the first, the second half was similar in the sense that neither team could pull away from the other. All told, there were seven ties in the game and nine lead changes.
At the 12:54 mark of the second half the Aggies held the biggest lead by either team at seven. After a timeout, the Utes took over for what became the key stretch of the game.
For the next five and a half minutes the Aggies went cold from the floor. Utah used five USU turnovers to aid them in an 11-0 run that gave them a four-point lead and swung the momentum in their favor for good.
“I thought the key stretch of the game was … the five-minute stretch there we go without scoring and they go on an 11-0 run,” Morrill said. “That was a little tough to swallow – give them credit, they found a way to win, but we also found a way to give it away.”
A jumper, two free throws and a 3-pointer by Quayle put the Aggies up by one, 54-53, with 5:34 remaining, but that was the last lead the Aggies would enjoy.
Brown connected on an NBA-range 3-pointer to put the Utes back on top, and they would have just enough momentum from there to hold of the more experienced Aggies.
Utah State did have two chances to tie the game in the final seconds. Freshman guard Marshall Henderson missed the second of two free throws with 38 seconds remaining and then Quayle and Ute guard Luka Drca each connected on a pair of free throws to leave the Aggies down by three points with 26 second remaining.
USU ran a great play that left Tyler Newbold open at the top of the key for the game-tying 3-pointer, but Newbold – who had struggled all night – was just off the mark. Quayle – who recorded a double-double with 11 rebounds – was able to corral the ball, but thought there was less time on the clock than the 10 seconds remaining and fired an off-balance 3-pointer that was just short.
“I thought it was going in and I’m sure everybody else did too,” Quayle said of Newbold’s attempt. “It went off and then was just bouncing around down there. I went and grabbed it and my fault, I thought there was less time then there was. I threw up a shot and it probably wasn’t the best shot.”
Newbold and fellow wing Brian Green struggled mightily for the Aggies as the pair combined for only six points on 3-of-15 shooting, including a dismal 0-of-9 from beyond the arc.
“We have good shooters on our team, and normally they will hit those shots,” said junior forward Tai Wesley. “We had great looks and we took the shots we wanted to take and unfortunately tonight, not enough fell for us. We got the shots we were looking for, we just didn’t hit them.”
The loss was a bitter pill to swallow for the Aggies who have rarely been favored to win in Salt Lake City. They must forget about it quickly though, as they travel to Boston to play Northeastern (0-1) at 10:30 Saturday morning.
“We’ve got to get rested up and got to be mentally there,” Quayle said. “We’ve got to have two days of good practice and focus in.”
Thanks to KSL for the coverage.
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