Utah State basketball: Ags kiss Fresno g'bye

LOGAN — Utah State's Jaycee Carroll had an easy excuse for scoring four, five and six points in three previous games on Senior Night: He wasn't a senior.

Just after he and fellow seniors Stephen DuCharme and Kris Clark were honored prior to the game, Carroll kissed the center court, kissed his wife and then proceeded to drop 33 on Fresno State in Utah State's 79-66 victory Monday night.

With the win, the Aggies finished the year undefeated at home (17-0) for only the fourth time in Smith Spectrum history, and Carroll finished his career 58-4 in the building the Aggies call home, while DuCharme and Clark lost just one game there.

"I've been here a long time — I've been here for four years — and I've played a lot on that court — lots of practices," Carroll said. "It seemed like an appropriate tribute to this place (to kiss the court)."

Carroll connected on 10-of-18 shots (6-of-11 from three) and went 7-for-7 from the line.

"It's a great night for everybody and (we) finished the season at home undefeated," DuCharme said. "We need to continue these next two games in the WAC and win these next two games and get up on top, and then finish it up in the WAC Tournament."

If Utah State wins at Boise State (Thursday) and Idaho (Saturday), it will tie for the WAC title and earn the No. 1 seed in next week's conference tournament due to tiebreakers.

The Aggies (21-9, 10-4) lost to Fresno State last year in the home season finale or else the Aggies would have been undefeated at home last year. One year later the Aggies wouldn't be denied.

Carroll scored 15 points in the first seven minutes, while DuCharme, who started for the first time since Dec. 5, scored six of his 13 points in the same time frame and the Aggies led by 12.

Wilkinson and Tai Wesley then took over in the middle and combined to score six, and the Aggies built their biggest lead of the half at 19.

"He (Carroll) was on fire early, and I think it almost came too easy for us," Utah State coach Stew Morrill said. "We jumped up to a pretty big margin, and they (the Bulldogs) were not going away. They kept battling."

The Bulldogs, behind seven straight points from Kevin Bell, who finished with 31, trimmed the lead to seven with 1:04 left in the half. Utah State was able to get it back to 10 at the half.