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By Earl Scott Although the season-opening men's Utah State basketball game against Global Sports was just an exhibition, the team and coaching staff were understandably not happy about losing 76-74. With a new, untested team and starting point guard, Mark Brown, out with an injury, fans might expect the Aggies to be a little rough around the edges, but USU Head Coach Stew Morrill was upset with his team's performance nevertheless. "I thought we were poor," he said. "We couldn't guard anybody, we just handed them the game. Exhibition game or not, you never want to accept losing." Global Sports jumped out to a 17-5 lead about six minutes into the game on the strength of five consecutive three-point shots. USU knew heading into the game that GS relied on the three-pointer, Morrill said. The team didn't go out and play defense and it's something that will be addressed next week. Global's three-point shooting finally went cold and USU chipped away at the lead with a 24-8 run. USU took the lead with 7:32 left in the half when guard Cardell Butler sank a 15-foot jumper. Butler led USU in scoring with 15 points, shooting 6 of 14 from the field and making 1 of 2 foul shots. Despite his play, Butler was dissatisfied. "We started bad and we finished bad," he said. "It's ridiculous how we played tonight." The Aggies managed to extend their lead to 8 points, but with 2:19 left in the half, GS guard Ron Riley found his three-point touch, sinking two in the final two minutes and cutting the USU lead to 39-38 at the half. Former Aggie Shawn Daniels returned to the Spectrum playing for Global, scoring 10 points in the game. "It's good to be back at USU," he said. "They treated me real well my two years here." The Aggies came out strong in the second half looking like they had smoothed their game out extending the lead to 13 with 9:21 left in the game. Global wasn't done however, rallying to cut the lead to 69-67 with 2:36 in the half, as Daniels pushed his way inside with Tim Kisner and Riley sinking three-pointers. USU didn't help its cause by turning the ball over on six of their final 10 possessions. With the score knotted at 71, with about a minute left in the game, USU had a 3-on-1 fast break where Butler found redshirt senior Mike Ahmad just outside the left side of the key. Instead of taking the ball to the hoop for a layup, or trying to draw a foul as is customary with his game, Ahmad took a 6-foot jumper that found nothing but air. A steamed Morrill said after the game that he couldn't believe Ahmad took such a terrible shot. Ahmad admitted he was a little nervous during the game after sitting out a year and said he has no plans to repeat the shot should the same circumstances arise. "Next time I'm going to take it to the basket and probably dunk on somebody," he said. Ahmad finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds. With 50 seconds left in the game, Global took the lead for good when Chris Bacon made a 15-foot jumper from the right base line. USU deliberatly fouled, but Global made the shots from the line to seal the victory. "We never lose at home," Ahmad said. "Even though it's an exhibition, it's still a loss and it's big." After the game Morrill was asked if he saw many positives. "Right now I don't see a bunch," he said. "Maybe after I watch the film I'll find some." The 5,860 in attendance walked away shaking their heads, wondering how the team lost. USU will begin its regular season against Hawaii-Hilo at 7:05 p.m.
Friday in the Spectrum.
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