Utah State basketball: Aggies picks up 20th win

LOGAN — Utah State had a game Thursday night that would have made any optometrist proud: It was a 20/20 evening.

Behind 30 points from No. 20 Jaycee Carroll, the Aggies picked up their 20th win of the season for a school-record ninth straight time in an 86-59 victory over Louisiana Tech.

Carroll, who had just six points at the half, went 10-for-16 from the field in the second half and hit a 3-pointer for the 50th straight game as Utah State, which led by eight with 15 minutes left in the game, broke it open and snapped a three-game Western Athletic Conference losing streak.

With the way Gary Wilkinson and Tai Wesley patrolled the paint in the first half, Carroll, nor anyone from the perimeter for that matter, was needed.

The threat of Carroll, the WAC's leading scorer, having a big night was enough, at least for a time.

Wilkinson score 14 of his 19 points in the first half, while Wesley scored eight of his 16 points. The duo combined to hit 9 of 14 shots in the first 20 minutes.

"Jaycee really opens it up in the post for us and we were able to get a lot of buckets inside," said Wilkinson, who also had 10 rebounds to post his second straight double-double. "That is one thing we focused on before coming into tonight was getting the ball inside."

The Aggies shot a season-best 67.3 percent from the field, and a majority of that can be attributed to the 31 layups the Aggies had against the undersized Bulldogs.

"I thought we executed well and got pretty good shots and did what we needed to do," Utah State coach Stew Morrill said. "Obviously when you have Jaycee shoot that percentage and our two posts shoot that percentage it goes a long way to winning."

The trio combined to shoot 27 of 40 from the field and grabbed 22 of Utah State's 31 rebounds.

With the victory, the Aggies (20-9, 9-4) stay in the thick of the conference race. Boise State held on to beat San Jose State, Thursday and Nevada beat New Mexico State.

Boise State, which hosts Utah State next week, stands alone in first place, while Nevada is in second by a half-game. Utah State and New Mexico State are tied for third.

With three more wins, the Aggies will have 23 wins for nine straight seasons.