LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Warning to opponents when hot-shooting Jaycee Carroll gets off to a good start — look out.

Carroll scored 24 points and freshman Tai Wesley added 15 points, nine rebounds and six blocked shots as Utah State beat San Jose State 85-65 today in the WAC quarterfinals.

Tyler Newbold added 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the field, Gary Wilkinson scored 15 and the top-seeded Aggies (24-9) won their sixth straight to reach the tournament semifinals.

"It's good to come here and get a win," Utah State coach Stew Morrill said. "We've had a tough time with San Jose."

Not this time, though, because it didn't take long for Carroll to seize control. He made his first five field goals and scored 10 points as Utah State raced to a 19-8 lead through the first 5› minutes.

The sharpshooter from Evanston, Wyo., had a putback, hit a jumper, then made consecutive 3-pointers, forcing a San Jose timeout. Seconds later, Pooh Williams hit another 3-pointer and Carroll made a floater, putting the Aggies up 24-9.

It avenged Utah State's most recent loss, a 70-67 setback at San Jose on Feb. 18.

"We got after it early, which is something we didn't do at San Jose," said Carroll, who shot 10-of-13. "We were able to knock down a lot of shots. It's a good start when you get out on top. They were playing catchup the rest of the game."

DaShawn Wright and C.J. Webster each scored 16 points as San Jose State (13-19) wrapped up a 10-day road trip that included the final week of the regular season.

"Ten days on the road. It's been pretty tough," Webster said. "We did a lot of positive things. We played pretty hard. It just didn't show up on the scoreboard."

The Aggies showed they had more than just Carroll.

Newbold made 5-of-6 of his 3-point attempts and Wesley consistently worked the ball inside for layups. The youngster was a force with his interior defense — evidenced by his blocked shots and seven defensive rebounds.

"Tyler Newbold is a very solid player," Carroll said. "It was very good to see him playing that well and seeing other guys step up and make plays. They are game-winning plays."

But make no mistake, this is Carroll's team.

He finished the regular season as the nation's most accurate 3-point shooter, hitting 50.2 percent. He was named WAC player of the year after leading the league in scoring at 22.7 points.

"It was pretty much our normal rotation until the end. Jaycee only played 38 instead of 40," Morrill said.

The Aggies put it out of reach early in the second half, when Carroll swished a 3-pointer to cap a 10-0 run. That came after the Spartans cut it to 39-31 with two baskets to begin the second half.

"They got out so quickly that it made it difficult for us to come from behind," Webster said. "By the time we got it even, they were already ahead by 12 points."

A 12-0 burst later in the second half pushed Utah State's lead to 70-49, and the Aggies improved to 20-0 when they hold their opponent below 70 points.

"We just didn't have enough solid plays to beat them," San Jose State coach George Nessman said.

Utah State is just one of three teams — along with Gonzaga and Kansas — to win 23 games over the past nine seasons.