AGGIE AGONY: UTAH STATE ENDS BULLDOGS’ SEASON

By Andrew Marden
VSP Senior Writer

RENO, NV – Dwight O’Neil knew this was it.

As the final buzzer sounded Thursday afternoon, officially eliminating Fresno State from the WAC Men’s Basketball Tournament, the Bulldogs’ only senior waved to the crowd as he slowly walked off the court.

“Going out on my career like this, I’m fine with that,” said O’Neil, who scored 14 points in Fresno State’s 85-68 loss to Utah State in the quarterfinals. “My guys played hard to the end.”

Indeed, Fresno State did much better in the second half. The Bulldogs (13-21, 3-13 WAC) out-shot the WAC regular season champs 48-percent to 42-percent.

“In the second half we switched our defense,” said Bulldogs’ head coach Steve Cleveland. “(But) we were never able to get over the top and get the lead in the game.”

Whereas the Aggies, at one point in the second half, led by as many as 19 points. They started the game on a 16-2 run.

“We played hard and we played very aggressive,” said Utah State coach Stew Morrill, the WAC Coach of the Year. “We knew we were in for a game since the two previous went down to the wire.”

They sure did.

On January 15th in Logan UT, Sylvester Seay scored a career-high 32 points in a 66-62 loss.

Then at the Save Mart Center on January 31st, the Bulldogs’ junior forward launched a 60-foot buzzer-beater at the end of regulation. It sent the game to overtime, where the Aggies won by six (83-77).

“I wanted our team to play loose,” added Morrill. “Our defense was better, and that’s something we’ve worked on over the last couple weeks.”

Utah State now advances to Friday’s semifinals, where the Aggies will play fifth-seeded New Mexico State. Fresno State, meanwhile, heads home.

“(The Aggies) were obviously the better team,” said Cleveland. “I wish them the best in this tournament and the NCAA’s.”

Added freshman guard Paul George, who led the Bulldogs with 16 points in the loss, “I’m happy for the optimism we have,”

This and That: Utah State leads the overall series with Fresno State 26-20, but Thursday’’s game was the first time these teams met in the WAC Tournament…Utah State forward Gary Wilkinson, the 2009 WAC Player of the Year, scored his 1,000th career point in the game.

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