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Pacific Falls To Utah State In Big West Tournament Final, 65-52
March 12, 2005
By ANDREW DALTON ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Jaycee Carroll scored 22 points and Utah State ended No. 16 Pacific's 22-game winning streak with a 65-52 victory for the Big West title and a berth in the NCAA tournament. Carroll, the Big West freshman of the year, went 9-for-19 from the field, and Spencer Nelson added 16 points for the second-seeded Aggies. Utah State (24-7) earned its fifth NCAA tournament berth - and its fifth Big West championship - in eight years. Top-seeded Pacific (26-3) entered the game with the nation's longest winning streak and had won 34 straight against Big West teams. The Tigers went more than 10 minutes without a field goal in the second half, and their 52-point total was the lowest of the season. Utah State went on a 19-2 run midway through the second half, capped by a short jumper from Carroll that put the Aggies up 49-37 with 7:32 to play. The Tigers' leading scorer, Guillaume Yango, scored just six points, and Big West player of the year David Doubley had just eight. The Aggies led by as many as 16 in the final minutes. They had lost to Pacific twice during the regular season, once in overtime, once by a single point. Pacific led by one, 29-28, at halftime and scored the first four points of the second half, but Carroll made a 3-pointer to pull Utah State to 35-33, and the Aggies took the lead at 36-35 with a short jumper with 15:38 to go. The Tigers had a scoreless stretch in the first half nearly as long as their second-half drought. After Jasko Korajkic made a 3-pointer to start the game, the Tigers went more than 9 minutes without a field goal in the first. Fans will be able to watch the entire one-hour nationally-televised NCAA Tournament Selection Show on the big-screen videoboard inside the Alex G. Spanos Center. The event is free and open to the public. Doors to the arena will open at 2:30 p.m.
If Pacific advances to the 2005 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, Pacific Athletics will begin taking ticket orders on Monday, Mar. 14, at 9 a.m. through the Pacific Box Office at (209) 946-2474. Orders would also be taken in person at the Pacific Box Office. Located at Long Theatre at 1040 W. Stadium Drive, the Pacific Box Office is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. |
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