Utah State stomps Boise State on Stew Morrill's honorary night

LOGAN — Utah State beat Boise State 80-61 at home Saturday night, snapping a two-game losing streak and finishing their regular season series against the Broncos 2-0.

"Tremendous win," Aggies coach Danny Sprinkle said. "Not just for the university and our team, but with coach (Stew) Morrill being honored tonight, all the former players back, you know, rivalry game … it means a lot. It means a lot to sit in the seat that I sit in, because I know I'm representing Stew. I know I'm representing every coach that came before him."

In front of a 10,000-strong sold out crowd, the game had everything you'd expect between the Broncos and the Aggies: technical and flagrant fouls, a student-section poster tracking Bronco coach Leon Rice's "tantrums," and an energetic, emotionally-charged atmosphere in the Spectrum.

Perhaps more importantly, the Aggies were able to find a rhythm and an intensity that had been missing in their previous two games, propelling them to an early lead and subsequent win.

"This game is not about X's and O's," Sprinkle told his team before the game. "Play hard, period. … It's time. It's time to go out, and you've got to make Boise feel you for 40 minutes."

Sprinkle told the media prior to the game Saturday (and again after the game) that the team had a few extremely physical practices leading up to the matchup against Boise State, something of an attempt, perhaps, to show the players the toughness and physicality they would need to play with in order to beat the Broncos and the other Mountain West teams remaining on their schedule.

The Aggies were led by an impressive tandem performance from guards Mason Falslev and Darius Brown. Falslev finished the evening with 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the field; Brown had 18 points, going 3-of-4 from 3-point range, and added nine rebounds and five assists.

Great Osobor and Isaac Johnson finished in double figures, as well.

"I always try to take what I can get, you know, make the right play," Falslev said. "As I'm playing, I'm getting a little bit more confident in myself and confident in my shot, so it feels good to have a few go in. And once that happens, I kind of get in my groove."

Falslev scored 13 points in the first 10 minutes.

Overall, the Aggies shot 51.8% from the field and 42.9% from 3-point range, up from the Broncos' 35.6% from the field and 24.1% from deep.

Saturday night was also designated previously as a game honoring Stew Morrill, the legendary Aggies coach from 1998-2015. Morrill coached the Aggies to 14 straight 21-plus winning seasons, reaching the postseason in 13 consecutive seasons (appearing in the NCAA Tournament eight times).

For his tenure and accolades, Utah State named their home court after Morrill Saturday, coined officially as the Stew Morrill Court, during a halftime ceremony. The court now features Morrill's signature under the Aggies logo at midcourt.

"I hope he enjoyed tonight," said Falslev, who grew up in Cache Valley watching Morrill's teams play. "He left a great legacy here, so (I'm) grateful for him."

Former Aggies coaches Tim Duryea, Larry Eustachy, Kohn Smith, Rod Tueller, Dutch Belnap, and Morrill, along with roughly 65 former Aggies basketball players, were in attendance Saturday.

With the victory, Utah State vaults themselves into first place in the Mountain West, though the top seven teams are separated by just 1.5 games. The Aggies' next contest is on the road at Wyoming on Valentines Day.

Related topics