Utah State downs Georgia Southern, 71-61

Submitted by Dave Geringer
Phone: (907) 474-6807
11/19/04

Utah State jumped out to an early lead and withstood a late rally to defeat Georgia Southern 71-61, in a first round game at the 2004 BP Top of the World Classic Thursday night at the Carlson Center.

Nate Harris hit two free throws and a pair of layups as USU built an early 12-2 advantage. Two layups and a three-pointer by Jayce Carroll allowed the Aggies to increase their advantage to 25-7 before the Eagles regrouped.

Terry Williams scored five consecutive as GSU cut the lead to 29-17 with 7:17 left in the first half. USU came back with a 15-10 run to make it 44-27 at halftime.

The Eagles used an 18-6 run, capped by three-pointers from Terry Williams and Elton Nesbitt and Louis Graham’s layup to close to within nine at 50-41 with 15:12 remaining. Utah State maintained their lead, stretching it to 12 at 57-45 with 10:11 to play. The Eagles cut their deficit to six, 63-57, with 5:04 left, but could get no closer.

Carroll led all scorers with 19 points, Williams had 15 for GSU, Nesbitt added 14 and Graham contributed 10. Harris had nine rebounds as the Aggies won the battle of the boards, 40-24.

"It is very evident that we can’t dig ourselves that big of a hole against a team as good as Utah State,"? said GSU Head Coach Jeff Price. "In the first half, we didn’t play good defense and we didn’t take good shots. I thought our guys did a better job of adjusting in the second half, but it’s hard to come back when you fall so far behind."?

"Central Florida (USU’s next opponent) is a very athletic team, just like the team we played tonight,"? said Utah State Head Coach Stew Morrill. "We’ll see a similar type team when we play again Saturday."?

The game was the first of the regular season for each team. The Eagles dropped to 0-1, while USU improved to 1-0. The Aggies advance to a winner’s bracket game Saturday at 12 noon against Central Florida, while GSU will play host Alaska Fairbanks in a loser’s bracket game Saturday evening at 5:00 p.m.