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Aggies get big win to open title defense By
Doug Layne
The defending Big West Champion Utah State Aggies began their quest for back-to-back titles as they faced the Cal Poly Mustangs on Jan. 4 at Mott Gym in San Luis Obispo, Calif. Going into the contest the Aggies had won their last 19 games in the Big West, dating to last year when USU began their streak as they defeated Cal State Fullerton in their opening game in conference play. With the 82-69 victory over Cal Poly, that streak is now at 20 games. The Aggies went up as many as 17 points in the first half as Shawn Daniels hit a jumper to give USU its biggest lead of the game. It looked as if Utah State was going to run away with the game as the team took a comfortable lead at the break. The Aggies shot 54 percent in the first half. "We played pretty good offensively," Coach Stew Morrill said. But the Aggies knew going into the break that like most home teams, they will always make a run at some point during the game. "This is a tough place to play, they are a good team" Brennan Ray said. The Aggies got a scare midway through the second half when Chris Bjorklund nailed a three-pointer to cut the lead to four points. The Aggies, who have seen their leads often shrink this season, must have been thinking back to the Utah game that they almost lost and the BYU game that they could have won if they would have been able to hold on. The game looked like it was going to come down to the wire until Curtis Bobb drained his fourth and fifth three-pointers to help USU to a 16-4 run. "Curtis stepped up and made some big shots," Morrill said. During the run the Aggie defense allowed the Mustang to one field goal in nearly five minutes of play. "We needed to rely on our defense" Ray said to the press" Ray said to the press. "If we want to win the conference." C-Bobb would finish the game with 19 points, which was one shy of his career best. Leading the way for the USU was Shawn Daniels, who grew up just under two hours away in Bakersfield, as he finished the game with 24 points. "It is nice to come home to play for my family and friends," Daniels said. "This is the game that started it off for me last year." The Aggies knew that they had their work cut out for them as Cal Poly was the leading rebounding team in the BWC and they had not allowed one team this season to shoot over 50 percent in a game. Although USU was out rebounded 36-30, it became the first team this season to finished the game with shooting better than 50 percent. With the victory over the Mustangs the Aggies have won their last 14 games against teams that are from the Golden State.
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