One down, four to go!

Spring break definitely put a major dent into Wednesday's attendance for USU's opening game of the CIT, but despite that lackluster support and a stellar game from CSUB's Zach Lamb, the Man Challenge is one-fifth of the way completed!!

The game didn't exactly start out horrible for USU, but it wasn't overly pretty either. Granted the first half was all I got to see, so I'm stuck basing my takes on the second half around the following of ESPN's gamecast on a cell phone.

The first half though seemed to basically be the kind of basketball that Stew Morrill would normally murder a team for playing, but in this case, it was working. Things just didn't seem very in control at all, but because Preston Medlin was a man possessed and both Morgan Grim and Kyisean Reed were holding things down in the post better than just ok, the Aggies put together a nice little lead.

Then in the second half, the dramatics came into the picture with the Roadrunners - mostly Zach Lamb - making a thriller out of this one. They fought back from a 12-point halftime deficit to take a 48-46 lead at one point before the Aggies put together another run to grab the lead back. From there, USU had a small lead the rest of the time which they didn't go blowing.

They made it interesting by having NINE second-half turnovers, including four during the final four minutes of the game, as is tradition. But still they held on for a 75-69 victory.


With the win, the Aggies have their first postseason win in more than a decade, which is about the last thing anybody thought this team would be the ones to do if you'd asked them a month ago. And even if it came in the dry hump of postseason tournaments, a win is a win! (plus, we're a team from Utah... dry humping is kinda a Utah thing, so it'd only be fitting, right?)

Four more wins until CIT history is made! Now just to figure out when the hell the next game is?!? As of this point in the night, neither the CIT people, Utah State, or our next opponent Idaho seem to have their stories straight. CIT website says Friday, but apparently both USU and Idaho were told Saturday.

Hoping to god it's Saturday so I can be there. Might be a lot more people back in town too. Idaho will be hungry for a second chance to pull off a win in The Spectrum, so stepping it up from tonight's performance will be a necessity. Another game from Medlin like the last one he had against Idaho would be sweet too.


*EDIT* At least somebody got that movie reference

Big ups to Garrett Wheeler for knowing what movie I was referencing in the Man Challenge post when I said, "Now is when we pick ourselves back up and say to the country, "We're still here assholes!!! We'll always be here! You'll push us down and we'll get right back up again, and again, and again, and again, and again!!". 

NOTES

•  This was the best combined game of the season for Morgan Grim and Kyisean Reed, which could be a very good sign going into the rest of the postseason. The combined to shoot 11-11 from the field, 9-10 from the free throw line, 31 points, 14 rebounds, two assists, six blocks, three steals and only two turnovers..... As our friend Rod would say, "Wowie!" Great game from them!
• After a rare down-game against La Tech for Preston Medlin, he came back with a Bruce Willis-like vengeance! With just six more points he could have put out only the second game of at least 30-5-5 in a regulation game during the Morrill era, joining only himself in that category. I suppose I can settle for 24 points, five boards and six assists though.
   
• After uncharacteristically good games against La Tech for Danny Berger and Ben Clifford, they did not play well against CSUB.
• Wednesday was one of those games where Brockeith Pane tried to do too much. Hopefully he has that out of his system moving ahead in this tournament. His ball-handling was a necessity against CSUB's full-court press, and his defense is arguably the best on the team, so he almost always brings plenty to the table. And 15 points is nothing to be too upset about, but I feel like if three or four of those forced shots were turned into passes, he might still end up with 15 points for himself and let the offense run itself from there to work for a better look.
• Determining a Player of the Game in this one is tough. Medlin is the obvious statistical choice, but Grim and Reed's shooting percentages and scoring were great too. Pane still scored 15 points and held the guy opposite him to only four points on 2-9 shooting with five turnovers.... So they all get the honor and then some.

Player of the Game: The Utah State Aggies