LOGAN — There was no magic needed Tuesday night at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
But the sold-out arena celebrated just the same on Spectrum Magic Night. All 10,270 fans were greeted with a commemorative T-shirt on their seat when they arrived before the Utah State men's basketball team took on Fresno State in Mountain West Conference game. The team also wore special jerseys for the night.
On Stew Morrill Court, the Aggies were able to lead by double digits for most of the second half and took care of the Bulldogs, 91-78, to win their sixth straight game.
"It's magical every night, every night is Spectrum Magic," USU head coach Jerrod Calhoun said. "I thought we had a lot of magic with our offense. I thought our offense was really clicking at times and then not at other times.
"… I really want to shout out the HURD and our athletic department. This was one of the neatest environments as far as appearance, not one the shirts but the scoreboard. A lot of work went into that. It was pretty awesome, pretty magical night. And the last two times we have had this, we haven't won. I'm really glad we won."
Fouls slowed down the pace in the second half as 26 of the 36 fouls called in the game took place over the final 20 minutes. The Aggies (21-3, 12-2 MW) were whistled for 15 fouls in the second half.
"We play physical, our practices are physical, so we are used to it," Aggie guard Elijah Perryman said. "Some of the calls are just part of the game. You have to keep playing."
A slow start had Calhoun going to his bench early. Perryman, Kolby King, Karson Templin and Garry Clark checked in just a few minutes into the game.
"If guys aren't ready to play, we have nine 10 guys that can play," Calhoun said. "That's what a team is. Some nights you just don't have it. We need to be more process driven."
Perryman ended up leading the team in scoring. The freshman had a career-high 16 points. He also dished out a game-high seven assists.
"It was just about making my reads," Perryman said. "Watching film helps me so much, just seeing what teams do and learning ball screen coverages and everything. The biggest thing for me tonight was when they backed off, I shot it with confidence and really tried to get people open more than just scoring myself. The reads, I can't really explain it, I just see them."
"I thought he carried us as soon as he went into the game," Calhoun said of Perryman. "It really started about two days ago. We have very competitive practices with our scout team and first unit and our second unit. Our second unit and scout won all of the games the last two days. It was pretty evident who was ready to play at the start of the game."
Perryman was joined in double-digit scoring by King (14), MJ Collins Jr. (13), Zach Keller (11) and Templin (10). Adlan Elamin, Mason Falslev and Drake Allen each netted eight points.
"The greatest thing is we have depth," Calhoun said. "I thought Zach Keller had his best game. Zach was great. The energy and effort was really good."
USU was able to shoot 42.4 percent from 3-point range (14 of 33) against the best defensive 3-point team in the MW.
"I just shot it with confidence," said Perryman, who had four treys in the game. "It was great to see all of us make shots, not just me. I feel like when we shoot with confidence, we can shoot lights out."
The Bulldogs (11-13, 5-8) were led by DeShawn Gory with a game-best 21 points and eight rebounds. Jake Heidbreder added 19 points. Wilson Jacques grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.
"I've got to give Fresno a lot of credit, I thought they really battled," Calhoun said. "I have a lot of respect for Coach (Vance Walberg), he's been doing this a very long time. From year one to year two, you can see their team growth. They play the right way, they share the ball."
The Bulldogs came out red hot, hitting their first four shots from the field. The visitors scored the first eight points of the game before the Aggies got a 3-pointer from Elamin.
Calhoun had four subs at the table right away and had motioned for five.
"I was pretty disgusted with the effort to start the game," Calhoun said. "You have Spectrum Magic, coming off a game where you didn't close out and you're down eight nothing. You just can't stomach that as a coach."
Keller hit just his second 3-pointer of the season during a 7-0 surge by USU to tie the game at 10-10 less than four minutes into the contest.
After five lead changes and four ties, the Aggies strung together eight consecutive points to build a 29-22 lead at the 9:15 mark of the opening half. Elamin threw down a pass from Perryman to start the run, followed by 3-pointers from King and Collins as the hosts got in front for good.
Perryman, King, Templin and Garry Clark subbed in to spark the Aggies.
"It started off in practice this week, just paying attention to detail and staying focused," Perryman said. "Coaches were telling us (bench players) we needed to stay focused. I felt our group paid attention to detail. … I feel like coach trusts us as much as he does the starters. We came in and did what we needed to do, played aggressive, played smart."
Following a trey by the Bulldogs, the Aggies were rolling again with seven unanswered points. Another field goal from long range from Keller got the run started as Keller also had a layup off a nifty pass from Falslev. Allen turned a steal into a laying to make it 36-25 with 6:51 left in the first half.
A trey by King, followed by a three-point play by King, gave USU its largest lead of the first 20 minutes, 47-33. The Aggies took a 47-35 lead into the break.
USU got 20 points off the bench in the first half, compared to five by Fresno State.
After being held to just two points in the first half, Heidbreder went off to start the second half for the Bulldogs. The leading scorer coming in from Fresno State scored the first 11 points for his team. He had three triples, pulling the Bulldogs within 55-46 with 16:35 to play.
The Aggies then started to pull away. Templin scored four straight points, followed by a 3-pointer from Collins. Perryman capped the surge with five straight points to give USU a 67-46 lead at the 12:50 mark.
A pair of free throws by Allen brought out the "Up by 20-1" chant. Allen swooped in for a layup to give the Aggies a 76-54 lead a few minutes later — their largest lead of the game with nine minutes to play.
Fouls down the stretch on USU allowed the Bulldogs to narrow the gap, but never got closer than 12.
"It seemed like a very long game," Calhoun said. "It seemed like the last eight or nine minutes were never going to end. I'm really proud of the second unit, that's what a team is. That's what our culture is all about. I have full faith in any of our guys. We needed a burst of energy, and that second unit really provided it."
