Utah State basketball: Aggies do just enough to get it done, beat Bulldogs

But, as has been the case for several games now, the Aggies did just enough to pick up another win — this time a 65-61 decision over the Bulldogs that was much closer than anyone in Logan was comfortable with.

"We've showed a little character when the game is on the line," USU coach Stew Morrill said. "We did just enough to win."

The Aggies trailed throughout the first half as Fresno State hounded Utah State's post players and denied them any chance to establish an inside presence. The "monster" defense, Morrill said, disrupted USU's gameplan and nearly cost them the game.

"We responded," Morrill said, "by taking a lot of bad shots against their pressure."

The top shooting team in the nation, Utah State (16-1 overall, 4-0 WAC) hit only 41.7 percent of its shots in the first 20 minutes. Fresno State, however, wasn't able to take advantage of a career game from forward Sylvester Seay and only enjoyed a four-point lead at the break.

Gary Wilkinson and Tai Wesley, USU's normally dominating inside game, had just six points and made only 1 of 7 shots in the half.

If not for some clutch shooting from Pooh Williams, Jared Quayle and Stavon Williams, the Aggies might have been in a hole too big to climb out of.

"We lose focus when we are warming up," Quayle said, "and don't practice the shots that we will be shooting in the game ... At half, coach talks to us and tells us how we are going to win this game and we come out and execute."

That might be fine for now, but may not always be the case.

"He came out and warned us and warned us," Wesley said. "And we didn't listen. Our luck is going to run out sometime."

Wesley found himself sitting on the bench in the first half with three fouls — including a technical called when he grabbed an official during a timeout to try and demonstrate how he felt he was being fouled.

That led to the first significant playing time for heralded freshman forward Brady Jardine. The Twin Falls product made his presence felt quickly with an offensive rebound putback.

But his nerves and eagerness to make something happen got the best of him at times. His attempt at a dunk early in the second half ended with the ball bouncing off the back rim but still sent a charge through the crowd of 8,637 in the Spectrum.

With his energy and some timely shooting, the Aggies set out to climb back to the lead.

But climb the Aggies did. And luckily it was a quick ascent.

Quayle scored the first six points of the second half — a 3-pointer and a drive for a basket with a foul — giving Utah State a lead it never relinquished.

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