LOGAN — It was a day of records and personal bests for Utah State in its 106-68 victory over Westminster on Thursday. Sophomore forward Zee Hamoda scored a career-high 28 points with his 6-for-7 shooting from three, contributing to the new school record 21 threes made by the Aggies in the game.
The 21 threes broke the previous school record of 20 set in 2006 against New Mexico State, a game also famous for containing Jaycee Carrol’s single-game individual record of 10 threes in a single game. Fittingly, Carrol was present for Thursday’s game.
“That was awesome,” Steven Ashworth said of breaking the record, also saying that the team “never really set out to break records like that. We really just try to let the game come to us and that’s what’s great about this team is that you can go out on a night like this and do something like (breaking the record) which is really special and will probably last maybe a few more weeks.”
Hamoda played a season-high 25 minutes as part of an expected bump since the Aggies were missing two starters – point guard Rylan Jones and power forward Taylor Funk. That moved Utah State’s two main bench scorers, Ashworth and Dan Akin, into the starting five. Hamoda and R.J. Eytle-Rock were pushed into bigger bench roles than normal.
The final three was a buzzer-beating three from RJ Eytle-Rock. His intention appeared to be to attempt the three as the clock expired so as to not have the shot count and stay within the unwritten rules of sportsmanship. However, he unintentionally beat the buzzer and set a program record on accident. According to Odom, Eytle-Rock made sure to go over and apologize to Westminster head coach Norm Parrish for the mistake.
For a game that wound up being decided by nearly 40 points, the Aggies didn’t start off very hot. With 6:30 left in the first half, Westminster took a 22-21 lead. The Aggies had gone scoreless for nearly three minutes and weren’t finding or hitting shots a team that averages 86 points per game normally finds and hits. It was also not the expected path of a game between a Division I and Division II school. Odom said the pace of the Griffins was a bit surprising to them.
“They ran it really fast,” Odom said. “They did a really nice job of moving us side-to-side. We wanted to try and keep them on a side and we had a really hard time doing that.”
A particular thorn in Utah State’s side early was Griffins guard Taylor Miller. He had 26 points on the night on 12-of-16 shooting. Miller had 15 points by the time Westminster took that 22-21 lead.
“He’s a great player,” Ashworth said. “He came out and was ready to go from the very start. Hit a few of his first good looks and then you knew it was going to be on from there and he was going to be their go-to guy.”
Over the final six-and-a-half minutes of the half, Utah State resolved to correct its wayward path in the game. Sean Bairstow got USU going with a mid-range jumper, followed by a Hamoda 3-pointer. Then Steven “Splashworth” Ashworth began doing his thing, scoring eight straight points for the Aggies including a pair of 3-pointers. This quick burst of points powered what would become a 22-9 run to end the half as Utah State took a 43-31 lead into the break.
The second half was largely a progression toward the garbage minutes that allowed end-of-bench guys like Landon Brenchley and Conner Gillis. Utah State built its lead from 12 to 20, later 30 and nearly touched a 40-point lead (the largest lead was 39).
It was in the second half where Hamoda began putting on a show. He scored 23 of his 28 in that half. Multiple times he stole the ball in the backcourt for breakaway dunks. One of those was a 360 two-handed slam.
“I was shocked that there was no one coming to block me,” Hamoda said. “So I was like ‘Now it’s time to show off, what should I do?’ I was thinking about a windmill, 360 between the leg but I ended up with a 360.”
The great game from Hamoda is the brightest flash the young forward has shown in his development toward potential stardom in Logan. This year he’s been able to expand his game and improve his jump shot. Case in point, going 6-for-7 from three.
“It’s really interesting,” Ashworth said, “to see Zee in the situation that he’s in because I see a lot of my freshman year in that same, similar situation where you’re battling to get on the floor and then you really want to prove yourself when you’re on the floor. And Zee had a great night tonight in that aspect to where he let the game come to him in the second half he found open looks.”
This kind of game usually wouldn’t be remarkable – it will be now since it now contains a single-game record – but the important thing to the players was playing their game and not focusing on blowing out a Division II team by 38 points.
“From the start we were talking as captains about how this needs to be a mentality where we focus on our standards. It’s not about who we’re playing, who’s the competition out there. We need to play Aggie basketball,” Ashworth said. “So we made a commitment before the game that when we came back into the locker room our happiness level was going to be more so about the way we played rather than the result.”
Hamoda’s 28 obviously led all scorers, but he was seconded by his bench partner, Eytle-Rock who finished with 17. Ashworth also had 17 points and Bairstow added 16 points with five rebounds and six assists. Max Shulga added 11 points and a team-high eight assists.
With this win, the Aggies are on the precipice of another all-time program record, that of best start to a season. The 9-0 record USU currently has is tied for the best in its history. Not since 1938 have the Aggies started a season this hot in the win/loss column. A win on Monday against Weber State would set a new record, surpassing the 1938 and 1918 Utah Agricultural College teams for best start in men’s basketball history in Logan.
