No. 17 Utah State rolls past North Carolina A&T

LOGAN — Since they play essentially the same position, Utah State forward Justin Bean and Alphonso Anderson normally spend more time battling against each other in practice than playing alongside one another in games.

But when pushed by the North Carolina A&T Aggies Friday night at the Spectrum, the Utah State Aggies found that Anderson and Bean make for a great combination in crunch time.

“I love when we’re on the court together. ... When we get on the court, I feel like we just click,” Anderson said of playing alongside Bean following No. 17 Utah State’s 81-54 victory over NCAT. 

“It’s kind of crazy because we don’t get a lot of reps together, but I love playing with him. He works hard, I work hard. It brings a different dynamic because a lot of teams can’t really guard it.”

A transfer from North Idaho Junior College, Anderson went 6 of 9 from the floor and 9 of 12 from the free-throw line on his way to a career-high 21 points, while Bean finished 8 of 12 from the field for 18 points. Bean and Anderson also added 10 and six rebounds, respectively. 

The Aggies (4-0) shot 55.8% as a team and outrebounded the North Carolina Aggies by a 44-28 margin, but an 18-for-30 performance from the free-throw line and 15 turnovers helped North Carolina A&T (1-3) hang around much longer than most the 8,864 fans at the Spectrum assumed. 

Utah State led 38-23 at halftime, but NCAT managed to trim that 15-point deficit down to just six points with 14:03 to go. But spurred by Bean’s trademark energy and Anderson’s savvy play in the post, the Aggies steadied the ship and USU outscored their guests 39-18 over the last 14 minutes.

“This was a game that went how I felt it could go,” USU head coach Craig Smith said. “They have a way of making the game get ugly and do a lot of different things, and you’ve got to give them credit. I thought they played well and made some shots. 

“Coming into the game, they were averaging three made 3’s a game, shooting 22%, and to their credit, they go 7-for-20. They made almost as many 3’s tonight as they have all year. They made some plays; they made some tough shots, too.”

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North Carolina A&T got 15 points from senior forward Ronald Jackson and 14 points from freshman guard Fred Cleveland Jr., but the visiting Aggies shot just 35% as a team and ended up 14 turnovers. 

Anderson was the fourth different leading scorer for Utah State in its first four games. Senior guard Sam Merrill finished with 10 points, six rebounds and five assists, while sophomore guard Brock Miller had three 3-pointers and 11 points.

“At the end of the day, I thought we did some really good things,” Smith said. “We’re obviously 4-0, and in four different games we’ve had four different leading scorers, so that’s a positive thing to have some balance that way.”

The Aggies appeared to be well on their way to tearing off to another phenomenal start like they had done in their previous two games against Weber State and Denver. But after opening the game with a 12-2 spurt, the hosts suddenly got sloppy offensively, and thanks in a large part to eight USU turnovers in the first nine minutes, the visiting Aggies managed to trim their deficit down to just 13-12. 

“We just went into a tailspin on offense where we were just throwing that thing all over the gym and throwing bounce passes to Kuba (Karwowski)’s ankles,” Smith said. “I’m not sure the guys realize he’s 7-foot-2, so it’s hard for him to catch them at the ankles. We just tried to play, maybe not too unselfish. But instead of making some of the simple plays, we were trying to make highlight reel plays, and then we got better with that.”

But Utah State finally managed to counter with a slam dunk by Anderson that triggered an 11-0 run, and the Aggies ended up committing just one more turnover the remainder of the half. Merrill didn’t score his first basket until there was 5:40 left before halftime, but thanks to Bean (nine points, six rebounds) and Anderson (nine points, four rebounds), Utah State still took a seemingly comfortable, 38-23, lead into the locker room. 

The visiting Aggies didn’t go away quietly, however, outscoring USU 15-4 to open the second half. But in the span of just three minutes, Anderson and Bean combined for 11 points during a 13-3 spurt by the Aggies that helped the home team regain control once and for all. 

The only scary moment for Utah State and its fans down the stretch came with just over eight minutes to go when Bean went up for a driving layup at the end of a fast break, but failed to finish and went down in a heap underneath the basket. But what initially looked like a potentially serious knee injury ended up just being a bad cramp in his left calf.

“I told Sam I’m sorry that I messed up his assist, but just as I went to jump, it bulged up and I lost my footing,” said Bean, who returned to action just a couple of minutes later. “Ironically, I ate a banana before the game. That’s supposed to help, but in my case it didn’t. So, no more bananas for me.”