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Aggies struggle early, then hit foul shots to win conference opener
By Doug Layne
The Utah State Aggies improved their record to 10-5 as they beat Cal State Fullerton, 82-70, Thursday night at the Spectrum. For both teams it was the first game of the year in conference play. The win was not to be an easy one, for the Aggies have struggled at times during the season. The Aggies found themselves down 21-16 early in the game as the Titans took their biggest lead. The Aggies later in the first half took the lead for the rest of the game when Troy Rolle scored eight straight points to put the Aggies up by two. Rolle went on to score a career high 24 points. Fullerton has not gone home with a win in the Spectrum since Feb 6, 1982. In fact the Aggies have dominated the series 28-12. The Aggies won the game on the foul line as they struggled on the night. The Titans, who found themselves down by 10 with just a little over four minutes left, began fouling Shawn Daniels, who was 0-for-5 from the line at the time. Unfortunately for the Titans, Daniels went 3-for-4 from the line from that point. And luckily the rest of the Aggies would be able to make their foul shots as they would only score nine points from the field and go 18-for-23 from the foul line in the last 10 minutes of play. The highlight on the night for the Titans was when All Big West player Ike Harmon hit a three-point shot late in the first half to give him his 1,000 point as a Titan. Harmon scored 16 points on the night and received a technical foul after Harmon had some words for Brennan Ray. Leading the way for the Titans was Kenroy Jarrett, who scored 18 points during the night. Midway through the second half when the game looked like it might go down to the wire the Aggies went on a 12-0 run. The Aggies took the advice of coach Stew Morrill at halftime. "Morrill yelled at us and told us we needed to pick up our defense," said Troy Rolle. "They were tight the first half and hesitant, and Fullerton threw at us a defense that we had not seen," said Randy Rahe, Utah State assistant coach. The Aggie defense did step it up, as they allowed the Titans to shoot only 10-for-25 in the second half. The Aggies also allowed only one offensive rebound in the second half as the Aggies grabbed 15 defensive rebounds compared to only six in the first half. The Aggies look to improve their record on Saturday night as they play host to Cal State Irvine. Game time will be 7 in the Spectrum.
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Archived Months:
September
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