Aggies survive Bulldogs' 3-point bombs

FRESNO, Calif. — For the first 20 minutes Thursday at Fresno State, the Utah State Aggies dug in and built a double-digit lead.

In the final 20 minutes, the Aggies held on for dear life.

Utah State, which led by as many as 17 in the first half, overcame a second-half, 3-point shooting barrage by Fresno State to post an important 77-72 Western Athletic Conference road victory.

The Aggies shot 55.2 percent in the first half, while Fresno State shot just 30.8 percent, which allowed the Aggies to break away early.

Fresno State, which hit just 1-of-8 3-point attempts in the first half, drilled 10-of-14 in the second half in shooting 58.6 percent from the field.

Utah State, however, shot 63.2 percent and hit 10-of-17 foul shots in the second half to do just enough to pull off its first-ever WAC victory in Fresno.

"Our first-half cushion was just enough to carry us," Utah State coach Stew Morrill said. "We made it interesting with a few turnovers."

With the victory, the Aggies (17-6) moved to 7-1 in league play, and maintain their one-game lead over Boise State.

The Aggies are now 2-1 on the road in league play, and winning for the first time in Fresno since joining the WAC, can only give the Aggies confidence as they have a boat load of road games in the next 10 days.

"I didn't want them feeling they had to win the first one. We came out pretty aggressive, but pretty free and that was good to see," said Morrill, whose team is now 3-5 overall on the road. "It is always nice to win the first game when you have four of five on the road."

Jaycee Carroll scored a team-high 22 points, and Kris Clark scored a career-high 16 as did Gary Wilkinson to pace the Aggies.

Carroll went 8-of-16 from the field, including 6-of-9 from the three-point line, while Clark was 5-of-8 and Wilkinson was 5-of-6, including a big three-pointer with 2:40 left in the game to give the Aggies a 10-point lead. It was the last field goal the Aggies would score. In the last two-plus minutes they hit 5-of-8 foul shots to maintain a nominal lead.

Fresno State (11-13, 4-6) cut the lead to three on a 3-pointer by Miller with just over a minute to play, who finished with 20 points, but the Bulldogs missed two shots and turned the ball over down the stretch before scoring at the buzzer.