Aggies dominate second half, beat Southern Utah 89-49

It was a tale of two halves on Saturday night in the Spectrum, as Utah State defeated Southern Utah by a score of 89-49.The Aggies were able to make the necessary adjustments to pull away from the T-Birds, after only leading 40-32 at the intermission.”It was two totally different halves on our part,” USU head coach Stew Morrill said. “… For whatever reason, we weren’t as geared up as we should have been in the first half, and I was concerned about that.”Coach Morrill’s worries were soon put to ease, as the Aggies came out of the break on a huge run that put the game out of reach. Utah State went on a 18-0 scoring streak, and did not allow a SUU basket until six and a half minutes into the second half. This run was due in part to the inspiration by Morrill at halftime.”Coach got on us pretty bad,” junior guard Pooh Williams said. “They out rebounded us by nine in the first half, so that’s mainly what he was talking about.”Williams had a productive night, especially considering that he is recovering from an injured foot. He finished with a career high 17 points, going 6-7 from the field and 4-5 from three point distance.”I got a rhythm going, and had open looks, so I just took them,” said Williams.”The thing that I am encouraged about Pooh more than anything else is him making plays for other people,” Morrill said. “We desperately need him to make plays for others with his penetration.”However, he was not the only USU player to get a career high of 17 points on the night. Freshman guard Preston Medlin joined Pooh, as the youngster shot 5-6 from three point territory in a total of 15 minutes.”I was shooting pretty good today,” Medlin said. “Teammates were getting me open, so I was just shooting.””I yelled at him to shoot the ball, and then he said ‘Okay,” Morrill said. “He made a few… One thing that he can do is make some shots. We checked him in, and he made a few. That certainly helped us.”The Aggies had a good night on the defensive side of the ball. USU held the T-Birds to a meager 26% from the field, including 20% in the second half. Utah State forced SUU into committing 19 turnovers, and stole the ball from the opponents eight times. Nate Bendall was a force in the paint, as he had three blocks and affected numerous other shots.”We defended really well,” Morrill said. “They had trouble scoring, and I like to think that our defense had something to do with it.”Utah State will now look forward to the toughest week on their schedule, as BYU and St. Mary’s will visit Logan on Wednesday and Saturday.

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