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Logan • With students either on Christmas holiday or at the Idaho Famous Potato Bowl in Boise, it was up to Utah State's basketball players to re-create the legendary energy inside the Smith Spectrum.
It took awhile, and for a while play was a little sloppy, but eventually Utah State, still a work in progress, had too much for visiting Seattle, earning an efficient 78-53 decision Saturday night.
"It's a win at the end of finals," USU coach Stew Morrill said. "We did a lot of things pretty well, so we're making progress slowly, day by day. We had some guys come off the bench and do a good job."
Aggie guard Preston Medlin had a game-high 22 points, and Danny Berger came off the USU bench to score 11 with five assists and seven rebounds.
USU (5-5) began to pull away from the Redhawks (2-7) in the closing minutes of the first half and just continued to steadily pull away throughout the second.
The last two or three minutes we got a little hot, really gave us momentum going into halftime," Berger said. "We had a lot of energy."
Those quick three-minute games at the end of practice paid dividends.
"It helps you prepare for a run," Berger continued. "Our energy on defense led to good offense."
Throughout much of the first half, Utah State had a small but definite advantage against the visitors from Seattle.
Still, the margin remained close enough to make the Aggies a tad uncomfortable. USU needed more defensive energy and better execution on offense to truly relax along with a few thousand fans and students.
Utah State took control late in the first half, brushing off the slight rust of a week between games.
"We were just fighting hard," Medlin said. "We came out and hustled. One thing [Morrill] said we needed to bring a lot of energy. There wasn't going to be a lot of fans in the stands, so we did that."
Leading 22-19, the Aggies finally made the Redhawks pay for their lack of accuracy by going on an 11-0 run to open a 14-point lead.
The Aggies led 35-24 at the half and began the second half with a 9-2 run.
Ben Clifford sparked the run to close the opening half with a 3-pointer and a pair of layups, including an offensive put back. Kyisean Reed, contributing a block and a steal to the late USU push, also scored during the run, thanks to a second offensive rebound by Clifford.
Seattle, which at one point had converted just 25 percent of its first-half attempts, was lousy from both outside the 3-point line (3-23) and inside the arc (29 percent).
Seattle managed to stay close as long as it did thanks to its offensive rebounding. The Redbirds dominated the offensive glass with 21, scoring 16 second-chance points.
Twitter: @Tribmarty —
In review
Utah State takes control with an 11-0 run to close out the first half.
Seattle shoots 29 percent from the floor, including just 3-of-23 3-point shots.
USU guard Preston Medlin leads both teams with 22 points.