Aggies win opener against ORU in OT

Make it an even dozen for the Utah State Aggies.

For the 12th straight time, the Aggies won their season opener, but it didn't come easy.

Nate Harris scored 23 points and Jaycee Carroll added 20 more (16 in the second half) leading the Aggies to a 72-67 overtime win over Oral Roberts Saturday night in Tulsa, Okla.

The Aggies led by as many as 13 points in the first half before leading by seven at the break, 32-25. The Golden Eagles, the Mid Continent Conference regular-season champions who lost just one game at the Mabee Center last year, overcame a shooting percentage of 29 percent in the first half and took a six-point second-half lead on a 3-pointer by Ken Tutt.

Utah State took the lead at 59-57 with three minutes left, and Carroll scored a bucket with 41 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime.

"That was one thing we talked about at halftime. We knew they were going to make a run and it was a matter of weathering the storm," Utah State forward Nate Harris told KVNU radio.

The Aggies (1-0) outscored the Golden Eagles 11-6 in overtime. Carroll scored four points in the extra session, Chaz Spicer added three points and Chris Huber iced the game with a pair of free throws with six seconds left.

The Aggies, who play five of their first seven games on the road, travel to Murfreesboro, Tenn., to take on Middle Tennessee Monday at 6 p.m.

"We competed and that's got to be first and foremost if you're going to give yourself a chance to win," Utah State coach Stew Morrill said. "This is a real nice win for us. We've got to get better in a lot of ways but it's encouraging we found a way to win the ball game."

Utah State trailed 5-1 early in the game but fought back to tie the score and took a 7-5 lead on a pair of foul shots by Cass Matheus. ORU (0-1) regained a 10-8 lead, only to have the Aggies go on an 11-0 run fueled by five points off the bench by Nick Hammer and four by Harris. The Aggies went on to lead by nine at the half.

Carroll and Harris combined to score the Aggies' first 18 points of the second half (eight by Harris, 10 by Carroll) and Utah State led by as many as 13.

Tutt, who paced the Golden Eagles with 23 points, knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to pull the Eagles to within three with 12 minutes left. They tied the score at 51-51 with another bucket by Tutt. The game was tied or the lead changed hands seven times in the final nine minutes before Carroll forced overtime.

Behind Harris and Carroll, Matheus and Spicer added seven points each. Harris and Matheus led the Aggies with six rebounds each, and David Pak led the team with assists.

ORU all-American Caleb Green scored 14 points and pulled down five rebounds before fouling out with just over four minutes left in regulation.

"It was a good team win," Morrill said.

Utah State shot 47.1 percent from the field (75 percent in overtime), while ORU shot 41.7 percent.

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