Feb. 9, 2008

Final Stats

LOGAN, Utah - Senior All-American guard Jaycee Carroll had a game-high 26 points and 11 rebounds to lead Utah State to a 78-73 home win against San Jose State here inside a sold-out Dee Glen Smith Spectrum Saturday night.

Utah State has now won 13 of its last 14 games and improved to 18-6 on the season, while San Jose State falls to 10-13 overall with the loss. USU also remains atop the Western Athletic Conference with its 8-1 league record, while the Spartans drop to 2-8 in conference games.

Carroll, who finished the game 8-of-16 from the field and 8-of-9 from the free throw line, registered his second double-double of the season and seventh of his career for Utah State. Junior forward Gary Wilkinson added 15 points and seven rebounds for USU, while freshman forward Tai Wesley had 13 points.

C.J. Webster scored 21 points to lead a quarter of double-figure scorers for San Jose State. Tim Pierce added 15 points for the Spartans, while DaShawn Wright scored 12 and Chris Oakes finished the game with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Trailing 40-38 with 16:09 remaining, Utah State broke open a close game with a 15-2 run as Carroll scored seven points during the Aggie spurt. USU pushed its advantage to a game-high 15 on a free throw by senior forward Stephen DuCharme with 7:44 to play before SJSU slowly chipped away at the deficit and closed to within three at 76-73 with four ticks left in the game on a three-pointer by Pierce. The Aggies made 8-of-10 free throws in the final minute, including two by senior guard Kris Clark with two seconds to play to preserve the win.

Utah State opened the contest with an early 13-7 advantage before San Jose State went on an 11-4 run to take its first lead of the game midway through the first-half. The Aggies then scored six straight points, followed by nine straight points from the Spartans to give the visitors its largest lead of the game at 27-23 with 4:45 to play before the break. USU responded again and scored seven of the final 10 points of the opening period to go into the locker room tied at 32.

In the first-half, Utah State shot just 38.7 percent from the field (12-31), while San Jose State shot 48.1 percent (13-27). Carroll led the Aggies with 10 points at the break, while Pierce had eight for the Spartans.

Utah State finished the game by shooting just 44.2 percent from the field (23-52) and just 25.0 percent from three-point range (4-16), but held San Jose State to 46.0 percent shooting (29-63), including 29.4 percent from behind the arc (5-17). The Aggies won the game at the free throw line as it converted 28-of-32 (.875) foul shots as compared to 10-of-15 (.667) for the visitors. USU also committed a season-low tying seven turnovers, while the Spartans out-rebounded the home team 37-29.

Utah State will return to action on Monday, Feb. 11 when it plays at Nevada (15-8, 7-3) at 8 p.m. (MT). The game against the Wolf Pack was originally to be played on Jan. 5 before being postponed due to severe weather in the Reno area.