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Logan • Coach Stew Morrill will always remember his 400th victory at Utah State.
Not the milestone.
The effort needed to secure it.
Moments after the Aggies' 85-79 win over Fresno State on Saturday night at the Spectrum, Morrill was asked about getting to 400 wins as his 17th and final season at Utah State nears the finish line.
"I see why I'm retiring, if they are as tough as this one," he said. "I don't remember a tougher win in a while. But I really don't know what else to say about [it]. I'm old, I guess. I've been doing it a long time."
For the Aggies, freshmen Julion Pearre and point guard Darius Perkins finished with 19 points each as Utah State won its fourth straight game.
"It's getting to late February, and guys are getting worn down," Morrill said. "You just have to keep fighting in those kind of games, and we did. We hung in there and got out with a win. Our guys need to feel good about it, and I think they do."
The Aggies improved to 16-10 overall and 9-5 in the Mountain West Conference by shooting 53.7 percent from the field, including 16 for 25 in the second half. They avenged a 61-52 loss at Fresno State in January.
"I thought we fought at a hard level," said Bulldog coach Rodney Terry. "But we couldn't get meaningful stops when we had to get them. We have to clean up our one-on-one defense because it let us down."
Julien Lewis scored 21 points, and Marvelle Harris added 18 to lead Fresno State, which slipped to 12-15 overall and 7-7 in the Mountain West.
Said Morrill: "They are a hard team for us to play, and we didn't handle the press very well at the end tonight. But, overall, we played well. We shot the ball well. … They are just so hard for us to play because they can drive by us so well."
Fresno State jumped to a quick 10-6 lead when Harris nailed a pull-up 17-foot jumper. Utah State responded with a 15-4 run over the next five minutes, though, and David Collette's basket gave the Aggies a 21-14 lead.
USU owned a 32-24 advantage with 3:05 left in the first half, but Fresno State got within 34-30 when Cezar Guerrero hit a 3-pointer after two offensive rebounds kept the Bulldogs' final possession alive.
"We had to play well offensively," Morrill said, "because we had a hard time getting stops."
In the second half, the Aggies owned a 51-45 lead when JoJo McGlaston stepped into the backcourt on an inbound lob pass from the baseline.
After Fresno scored to make it a four-point game, however, McGlaston was exceptional. His hit a jumper, assisted on a layup by Elston Jones, passed to Collette for a dunk and found Perkins for a 3-pointer as Utah State regained a 71-62 lead with 5:03 left.
"I thought Jojo was really good — maybe his best night in a while," Morrill said. "… He didn't let that [turnover] kill his game."
With 45 seconds left, Utah State owned a 78-75 lead when McGlaston assisted on another 3 by Perkins, which iced the victory.
Storylines
R Julion Pearre and Darius Perkins score 19 points.
• USU wins its fourth straight game and improves to 16-10 overall and 9-5 in the Mountain West Conference.
• The Aggies shoot 64 percent in the second half and give their coach his 400th win at Utah State.