Utah State basketball: Aggies blast Broncos, strengthen NCAA resume'

RENO, Nev. — There were whispers coming from the national bracket 'experts' that a loss to Boise State would pop Utah State's bubble and send the Aggies, along with their 25 wins, to the NIT.

Utah State had an answer to those whispers, and that answer was a scream.

After Boise State fought hard for 27 minutes, Utah State brought the hammer down and absolutely throttled the Broncos in an 84-60 decision that sent a message directly to those naysayers.

Not that Stew Morrill wanted to speculate on bubbles, brackets or anything of that sort.

"That's the last thing I'm concerned about right now," Morrill said after his team won its 16th consecutive game. "I'm just worried about winning another game."

If the Aggies play like they did in the second half against the Broncos, Morrill won't be worrying much.

Utah State had another well-balanced offensive game and used a series of defensive stops midway through the second half to pull away from Boise State.

The Broncos, just the eight seed in the WAC tourney, tipped off the game with nothing to lose and plenty to prove. They certainly played that way for a long time, matching Utah State's effort and using a tricky full-court press to force turnovers and create easy transition baskets.

But when the Broncos got into a little foul trouble, they couldn't afford to keep the pressure up and, sensing an opportunity, Utah State stepped on the throttle and simply dominated the final 15 minutes of the game.

"We finally solved their press a little better," Morrill said, "and that helped us out a bunch."

The usual suspects did a lot of the work for the Aggies. Tai Wesley had 18 points and 10 rebounds. He also had four assists, three blocked shots and a pair of steals. Point guard Jared Quayle, likewise, stuffed the stat sheet with 13 points, 13 rebounds and four assists.

But that is pretty much expected.

Also expected is for a bench player and one of USU's other starters to come up big. Thursday afternoon, those expectations were realized and were more than Boise State could handle.

Pooh Williams, typically a defensive specialist, unleashed an offensive explosion in the second half as Boise State tried to figure out a way to stop Wesley and Quayle.

The junior swingman finished with a career high 18 points, with 13 of this coming in the second stanza as he drove hard to the basket and created his own scoring opportunities.

Brian Green, as he's done all year, came off the bench and provided a huge spark — knocking down 7 of 10 shots (including 4 of 6 from 3-point range) to match Wesley and Williams with 18 points.

His effort paced USU to a 24-3 edge in points off the bench.