Jan. 31, 2006 - Ags stave off rally, put away Warriors
For slumping Jaycee Carroll, it wasn't how many baskets, but when, that made the difference for Utah State on Monday night.
The Aggies' hard-won 20-point lead was suddenly down to seven as the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, thanks to their offensive rebounding, caught fire.
With the Aggies on their heels, bodies flying everywhere, and Hawaii looking to steal its first road win of the season, Carroll cut out the Rainbows' heart with two quick three-pointers. It was enough to allow USU to right itself, as it hung on for a 63-52 Western Athletic Conference victory in front of 9,540 screaming Smith Spectrum fans.
It was also good enough for USU coach Stew Morrill's 400th career victory before a national television audience on ESPN's Big Monday.
"If you would have seen our game in Hawaii, you would say it's a stark improvement," Morrill said. "We battled; we were pretty dang good defensively.
"We could have rebounded the ball better."
Utah State did shoot better, though, including Chris Huber and Carroll, who were a combined 6-for-8 from beyond the three-point line. Carroll's last two bombs came with less than eight minutes to go. They may have been his most important baskets this season.
"I started to feel like we weren't doing anything," said Carroll, who finished with 13 points. "I felt confident. I was itching in the second half to get a three-point shot. I hadn't got many looks.
Luckily, my teammates set some great screens."
Utah State (15-4, 6-2 WAC), winners of six straight and 14 consecutive at home, built a 45-25 lead with barely four minutes gone in the second half. It looked as if the Aggies might blow the Rainbow Warriors (10-8, 4-4) out.
Instead, thanks to Hawaii's physical presence inside -- and a couple threes by Julian Sensley -- the Warriors pulled to within 47-40 with less than 10 minutes to play.
"Once our size took over, we picked up the intensity," Hawaii coach Riley Wallace said, adding that his Warriors closed the middle in the second half.
"Defensively, other than Carroll, who can really run off those picks and is relentless here . . .we played good defense."
As Hawaii crept closer and anxiety began to grip the arena, Carroll popped his two threes and Matheus scored to push the lead back to 15. Hawaii never got closer than 11.
"It was awesome," Carroll said of the Spectrum fanatics, who began lining up for tickets at 5 p.m. "They help with their energy."
USU, which lost at Hawaii earlier this season, started slowly, but then began raining three-point baskets. Carroll, Huber and Durrall Peterson connected on five long-range bombs in the first half.
With Hawaii blocking everything in sight -- the Warriors finished with nine rejections -- Utah State had to battle for every point in the paint. Harris shook off the occasional block to record 19 points and 11 rebounds.
"It didn't feel like 19," Harris said. "It felt like they blocked more shots than I made. But we made some adjustments, shot faking a little bit to get them up in the air."
Matheus, who recorded two blocks of his own, added six boards and six points. It was Hawaii's big men who got into foul trouble, as Chris Botez and Matthew Gipson each had three at the half. Gipson ultimately fouled out.
Utah State's defense, the WAC's best, held Hawaii to 38 percent from the floor and 4-for-19 from beyond the arc.
The Aggies were 9-for-19 on three-pointers and 44 percent overall.
"It was nice to see that we had a lot of people stay up," Morrill said of the 10 p.m. start time. "We've always enjoyed being on TV, our fans enjoy it, our students enjoy it. And they should."
martyr@sltrib.com
*Nate Harris scored 19 points and had 11 rebounds.
*USU coach Stew Morrill earned his 400th career win.
*Jaycee Carroll's two three-point baskets in the second half stopped
a 15-2 Hawaii run.
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