Fresno State
Utah State
Bulldogs Fall On Road To Utah State, 87-77
3/2/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 2, 2006
LOGAN, Utah (AP) - Jaycee Carroll and Nate Harris each scored 18 points to lead five Aggies in double figures as Utah State beat Fresno State 87-77 Thursday night.
David Pak scored 15 for the Aggies (20-7, 10-5 Western Athletic Conference), Cass Mahtheus scored 12 and Durrall Peterson added 11.
Fresno State (15-12, 8-7) was led by Quinton Hosley with 18 and Dwight O'Neil with 16. Hector Hernandez and Ja'Vance Coleman each dropped in 14.
Fresno State shot 46.6 percent from the floor while Utah State shot 60.4 percent from the field.
Hitting four 3's tonight, Coleman added to his career total in three's as well as in career points. Needing nine more points to reach 1,000 in his career, he has collected 93 3-pointers this season to set the fourth-best mark. In his career, Coleman has 175 3-pointers which ranks No. 6 in school history and No. 20 in WAC history.
Harris, who also had 10 rebounds, scored the first six points of the second half and Carroll later scored seven consecutive points to give USU a 66-52 lead with 11:20 remaining.
The Aggies led by double-digits most of the second half, but the Bulldogs narrowed the lead to 81-74 after a steal and 3-point shot by O'Neil with 2:10 left.
USU then hit six free throws, and the Bulldogs managed only a 3-point shot by Coleman in the final minute.
USU burst out to a 10-2 lead in the first half, eventually leading by as many as 15 late in the opening half. Peterson hit three 3-pointers in the half.
Fresno State defeated USU 99-96 in double overtime on Jan. 7 when both teams opened WAC league play.
"We played an NCAA Tournament team tonight," Fresno State head coach Steve Cleveland said. "Even when we were down and chipped away, I thought we could still win this game.
"Our defense was not good enough tonight but it wasn't because of effort," Cleveland stated. "Utah State shot so well and any time you shoot 60 percent from the floor at home, you're going to win. Every time we took a shot away from them they did something else.
"I thought Utah State did a nice job on Ja'Vance (Coleman)," Cleveland continued. "Hector (Hernandez) and Quinton (Hosley) played their hearts out and gave us such a great effort. We were hurt on the boards but I thought we did a better job of defending the perimeter in the second half.
"The guys wanted to win and they played hard," Cleveland added. "They're disappointed but we'll face another NCAA team in Nevada and if we can shoot well like we did tonight then we'll have a opportunity to close out the season strong."
Fresno State wraps up its season on Sat., March 4, 7:00 p.m., at Nevada. The game will be televised by the Bulldog Sports Network (KFRE WB 59) and showcased on ESPN Full Court.
