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Aggie men beat Idaho to finish
2nd in the Big West, get a bye into tourney semis
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By Jerome Le Carrou
March 7, 2005 | Playing his
last regular-season game in the Spectrum, Spencer
Nelson led the Aggies with 20 points, 10 rebounds
and four assists in a 65-43 victory Saturday night
against the Idaho Vandals.
The Aggies improve to 22-7 overall and 13-5 in
conference play.
The Aggies honored six seniors before the game.
Jason Williams, Ian McVey, Tyler Williams, John
Neil, Calvin Brown and Spencer Nelson got a standing
ovation from the crowd. A lot of emotions could
be felt while they entered the court.
"Spencer has been amazing. It seems like
I have talked about him, and talked about him.
He is a special kid," Aggies coach Stew Morrill
said. Morrill has been Nelson's coach since both
arrived on campus seven years ago.
Playing their last home game of the regular season,
the Aggies had a good reason to fight hard as
they could secure their second place in conference
and enter the Big West tournament with a pass
into to the semifinals.
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GOODBYE, BIG GUY:
Senior Spencer Nelson,
with parents on hand, acknowledges his last regular-season
home game. / Photo by Jill Prichard |
"Great senior night. We got the win. You know,
I could have zero, zero and zero [as game statistics]
as long as we got a win," said Nelson.
The Aggies, who lead the nation in field goal percentage,
shot only 44.6 percent during the game, but they outrebounded
the Vandals 41-31.
"We defended them pretty well, even though we
were struggling a little offensively. Our defense was
good," said Morrill.
Nelson added, "We had a halfway decent game."
Nate Harris was the other Aggie who scored in double-digits.
He had 13.
Jaycee Carroll who is second in the country in three-point
field goal percentage, missed all seven three-point
attempts and finished with five points.
Forward Dandrick Jones led the Vandals with 21 points
and seven rebounds. The Vandals shot 30.9 percent from
the field
"I thought Idaho did a good job of having a game
plan to get us out of rhythm and not allow us to get
the crowd going too much. They have been running all
man-to-man this season, but they came in here and played
all zone. I thought it was a solid thing on their part
to do," said Morrill.
Brown, McVey, Neil, Williams and Nelson started to
honor their last home game.
The Vandals had a 7-4 run to start the game, but then
the Aggies took the lead with a 22-3 run. After a lay-up
by Harris, the Aggies led 26-10 with 5:36 left and went
to the locker room with a 30-19 lead.
At the beginning of the second half the Vandals cut
the lead to nine after a free throw by Jones with 15:00
remaining. But a 17-6 run enabled the Aggies to lead
51-31 with 4:57 remaining.
During the last 27 seconds of the game, Tyler and Jason
Williams added three-pointers, enabling the Aggies to
widen the gap to 22.
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"It was nice to get a little bit of a
run there at the end and get the crowd into it
for the seniors," Morrill said. "We
did what we needed to do."
Vandals coach Leonard Perry, "We played
a good Utah State team in a hostile environment.
We had guys on the floor diving for loose balls.
The ball did not go in when we really needed it
to go in."
The Aggies' next game is Friday in the Big West
Tournament in Anaheim, Calif. If they win twice
in Anaheim, they go to the NCAA Tournament. If
they lose, they might get an invitation to the
National Invitation Tournament, possibly starting
with a home game at the Spectrum.
"I really think that this team hasn't played
its best basketball yet. I think going to the
tournament, this a decent time to do it,"
said Nelson.
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GETTIN' UP: Nelson
leaps for a rebound. / Photo by Jill Prichard |
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