STOCKTON, Calif. — For some reason, when Utah State starts throwing that mild-looking three-quarter press and that 2-3 zone, it befuddles the teams the Aggies play.
USU didn't use the press or zone in the first half Thursday night at University of the Pacific, going straight man-to-man until the second half. Then the Aggies pulled out the changes to slow up UOP's 6-foot-9 reserve center Mike Preston, who scored 11 first-half points, taking up where Tiger Mike Hahn had left off in the first game in Logan Jan. 13 (12 points in the first half).
The new defenses kept the Tigers out of the middle a little and forced them to use more clock for shots. At times, they left the ball hanging a little too close to Aggie Curtis Bobb, who gave them one of those rolling blackouts with three steals in the final 12 minutes.
USU broke from a 40-39 advantage with about 10 minutes left to win 62-51 and take its record to a Top-25-like 17-2, 6-0 in the Big West Conference. The Ags remain tied with UC-Irvine, next Wednesday's foe in Southern California, at 6-0. Irvine is 14-2 overall.
The Aggies can tie their best start ever with another win on Saturday night back home in the Smith Spectrum if they can defeat 4-13, 1-5 Idaho, which lost 80-59 at Boise State Thursday night. That game is at 7 p.m.
"That halfcourt press surprised them," said Bernard Rock, the USU point guard who led all scorers with 15 points plus five rebounds. He noted that the Tigers threw the ball away the first time the Aggies pressed them. The main reason for the press is to waste clock. "When we get a turnover, that's a bonus for us," Rock said.
The Aggies had nine steals, forced 14 UOP turnovers, blocked four shots and made a season-low nine turnovers while shooting 50 percent from the field.
Thursday's victory was USU's 25th straight win against Big West opponents, dating back to last season, and it was its 11th straight win this season. That ties for the fourth-best win streak in USU history. UOP dropped to 12-6, 4-3.
"We did what we had to in the second half," said Aggie coach Stew Morrill, thanking his extended press and zone that set off Bobb, who scored his only two 3-pointers and made back-to-back steals as USU went from a one-point lead to a 10-point lead in less than five minutes.
"We were physically and mentally tough," Morrill said, adding that's what's needed to win road games. USU has won a school-record 12 in a row on the Big West road.
USU stiffened late in a physical game that left Tony Brown with seven stitches over one eye and left Aggies, and some Tigers, lying on the floor a lot. After missing seven free throws earlier in the game, the Aggies made eight of their last nine.
"Steals and easy shots got us going," Morrill said.
Rock remembered getting rocked on a couple of Pacific picks in this tough game, especially one where he was knocked flat while Maurice McLemore, the man he was chasing, rose up for a 3-pointer that gave UOP its last lead of the game, 32-30. But Rock also recalled, after a Dimitri Jorssen basket, making a steal and swooping in for a fast-break basket while McLemore fell trying to get in his way. Plays like that were Rock's payback for tough picks.
"Curtis Bobb made some clutch 3-pointers and caused a lot of turnovers," Rock said.
Bobb (12 points) did his own flattening of the Tigers, deflating them with four steals. He said the coaches had told him all week that the players he would guard, leading UOP scorer Peter Heizer (six points) and Tom Cockle (two), didn't drive left as well as right, so he shaded them to the right. "I have a tendency of slapping at the ball anyway, and they put the ball right in front of me," he said of his steals.
Shawn Daniels chipped in 13 points, five boards and two blocked shots while helping defend Pacific's big interior players.
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