Utah State Advances, Will Play 49ers Again

Utah State has had so many problems with Long Beach State that Aggie Coach Larry Eustachy considered a career change after their last meeting.

“I was thinking about going out and selling used cars or something,” Eustachy said.

Still, the Aggies hoped to get another shot at the 49ers this season. And they will after defeating Nevada, 70-65, Friday night in the first round of the Big West Conference tournament in front of 7,172 at the Lawlor Events Center.

Guard Justin Jones scored 21 points and forward Jon Wickizer had 16 to lead the fourth-seeded Aggies (17-14) past the fifth-seeded Wolf Pack (16-13). Utah State plays top-seeded Long Beach (17-10), which had a first-round bye, at 6 tonight in one semifinal.

San Jose State (11-16), which stunned Pacific Friday night, plays second-seeded UC Irvine (15-11), which had a first-round bye, at 9 tonight in the other semifinal. The Spartans and Anteaters split their season series.

Long Beach defeated Utah State, 80-73, Jan. 18 at the Pyramid and 71-50 on Feb. 17 at Logan, Utah. The latter game almost made Eustachy physically ill.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever been more disappointed after a loss,” he said. “That was our toughest experience of the year, and watching it later on the films I understood why. I mean, we just got manhandled. We caught Long Beach at the wrong time, so hopefully we’ll catch them at a better time now.”

The Aggies felt much better Friday night, especially after winning their first tournament game in eight attempts. The Aggies’ last victory came in 1988 when they beat UC Irvine in the title game.

Jones and Wickizer helped Utah State knock out tournament-host Nevada with clutch perimeter and free-throw shooting. Jones made a three-pointer with 4 minutes 45 seconds remaining to give Utah State a 58-50 lead.

Wickizer missed his four first-half field goal attempts. But he was three of five in the second half and made several timely baskets as Utah State took control in the final 10 minutes. He made two free throws with 3:22 to play to give Utah State a 63-52 lead--its biggest of the game.

In another first-round men’s game:

San Jose State 77, Pacific 57--Forward Olivier Saint-Jean had 27 points, seven rebounds and five assists to lead the sixth-seeded Spartans.

“San Jose State played very physical and very aggressive,” Pacific Coach Bob Thomason said. “We didn’t play very well and we committed a lot of turnovers and gave up a lot of easy shots. That combination was just too much for us to handle.

“They’re hungry. I think they’re going to give Irvine everything they can handle.”

Third-seeded Pacific (15-12) was the conference’s hottest team. The Tigers won their final four regular-season games to finish in a tie with UCI for second place.

In women’s semifinal games:

Pacific 88, UC Santa Barbara 87 (2OT)--The fourth-seeded Tigers defeated the top-seeded Gauchos to advance to the championship game against Hawaii at 1 p.m. today.

Forward Kate McAllister led four Pacific players in double figures with 22 points and had eight rebounds. Center Leslie Cox had 18 points and nine rebounds, forward Connie Blaisure scored 15 and guard Christina Randall 12 for the Tigers (18-11).

Forward Amy Smith scored a game-high 25 points and had eight rebounds for Santa Barbara (22-6). The Gauchos were 17-1 in the Big West and won the regular-season conference title.

Hawaii 75, New Mexico State 64--Forward Tania Brunton shot the Rainbows into the title game.

Brunton led all scorers with 34 points in 34 minutes. She made 11 of 23 field-goal attempts and four of five three-point tries for the second-seeded Rainbows (22-5).