Feb. 28, 2008

Final Stats | Photo Gallery

LOGAN, Utah - Senior All-American guard Jaycee Carroll's 30 points helped Utah State pull away for an 86-59 rout against Louisiana Tech Thursday night in Western Athletic Conference men's basketball action at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. With the win, the Aggies reach the 20-win plateau for the ninth-straight season.

Utah State is now 20-9 overall and 9-4 in WAC action, climbing into a tie for third-place. Louisiana Tech lost its fourth in a row and 13th in last 14 outings in falling to 4-22 overall and 1-12 in league play.

It was the Aggies' 16th win in a row at home this season as USU remains the only team in the WAC with a perfect home mark. Utah State improves to 141-12 at home under head coach Stew Morrill, including 20-3 against WAC foes.

USU is now 6-1 all-time against Louisiana Tech including 3-0 on its home court.

Carroll, an Evanston, Wyo., native, tallied his fifth 30-point game this season and extended his streak with at least one three-pointer to 50-consecutive games, netting 24 points after halftime in helping the Aggies pull away from a 36-31 intermission lead.

Junior forward and South Jordan, Utah native Gary Wilkinson posted his second double-double in a row and team-leading fifth of the season with 19 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, as well as tying a career-high with three assists. Freshman forward Tai Wesley, a native of Provo, Utah, added 16 points and seven rebounds, helping USU to a 31-23 rebounding edge.

Senior guard Kris Clark, a Wilmington, N.C. native, dished out nine assists, leading USU to 25 helpers on the night, one shy of the season-high. Clark also has 190 assists this year, setting a new single-season record.

The Aggies did set a new season-high for field goal percentage, shooting a smoldering 67.3 percent (37-of-55), and a perfect 10-of-10 (100 percent) at the free throw line, tying a school record. USU was just 2-of-10 (20.0 percent) from three-point range.

Kyle Gibson led Louisiana Tech with 17 points while Dwayne Lathan tossed in 15 off the bench. LTU hit 23-of-57 (40.4 percent) of its shots from the floor, including 6-of-19 (31.6 percent) behind the arc.

The Bulldogs were also 7-of-9 (77.8 percent) at the free throw line, as the Aggies made more free pitch shots than their opponent attempted for the second game in a row.

A Wesley layup gave USU a 17-7 lead at the 14:28 mark before Louisiana Tech tied the game at 23-all at 6:47 after a Gibson three-pointer. Wilkinson then spearheaded an Aggie charge with seven straight points, part of his 14 first half points and USU took a 36-31 lead at the break.

The Aggie advantage swelled to 13 after back-to-back buckets from Carroll gave USU a 53-40 lead with 11:32 remaining and the margin was double-digits from there on out. A hoop and free throw from Carroll put Utah State ahead by its largest margin of the night of 27 at 81-54 with 1:35 left and USU coasted to the win.

Utah State's regular-season home finale is Monday, March 3 against Fresno State at 7 p.m., as the Aggies will honor their three seniors, Carroll, Clark and forward Stephen DuCharme.

USU basketball games are broadcast on KVNU (610 AM) and KLZX (95.9 FM) in Logan, Utah, KFAN (1320 AM) or ESPN Radio (1230 AM) in Salt Lake City and KLZX (105.3 FM) in Montpelier, Idaho, as well as on the internet at www.UtahStateAggies.com through Yahoo! Sports. Al Lewis serves as the play-by-play announcer.

For Aggie basketball ticket information, fans can go to www.UtahStateAggies.com and click on "tickets" or call the USU Ticket Office at 1-800-USTATE-1 or 435-797-0305.