San Diego State defense stifled Utah State for most of the game, but several late three point baskets by Aggies drop Aztecs into tie with Utah State for conference lead.
The Aztecs showed their trademark
defense against Utah State on Saturday, holding the Aggies to 41% overall shooting, but late three pointers by MJ Collins Jr. sent the Aztecs to their second conference loss. San Diego State drops to 20-13 overall against Utah State, a future Pac-12 member next season. A loud and raucous crowd of 10,270 at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum Arena saw the Aggies (18-3, 9-2 Mountain West Conference) keep close with San Diego State (15-6, 9-2 Mountain West Conference), matching them blow for blow. A national television audience on CBS also was witness to the tenacious Aztec defense, despite being shorthanded. Magoon Gwath and Elzie Harrington were both out of the game. Pharaoh Compton was wearing a mask protecting his nose. Reese Dixon-Waters injured himself, rolling an ankle after stepping on a teammate. It also didn’t help that leading scorer BJ Davis ran into foul trouble and eventually fouled out with several minutes to play. The foul call was quite the phantom whistle as Davis was shown to not even make contact with the Aggie player.
The first half saw the emergence of Karson Templin, who time and time again, found his way inside for a basket on his way to scoring 18 points on 7/10 shooting. He added two from three point land as well as seven rebounds. Team scorer MJ Collins Jr. scored 12 points, but was strangely quiet in the first half. This is where Templin took charge to keep the Aggies in the game. Mason Falslev, a usual sparkplug, was quiet, contributing 8 points and 6 rebounds. The Aztecs were led by Reese Dixon-Waters who led all scorers with 19 points. No other Aztec player were in double digits, a testament to the harassment faced by the Aggie defense. Every Aztec player who played had points with Jeremiah Oden hitting back to back three-pointers in the first half. The Aztecs shot a dismal 40% from the field and only 25% from beyond the arc. The Aztecs also found themselves outrebounded by an aggressive Aggie team 46-31, including 15 offensive rebounds by the Aggies. The Aztecs led for two-thirds of the game and had an 11 point lead in the first half. That lead melted away as the Aggies fought back and tied the game heading into halftime. The loss comes after an 82-71 victory over Colorado State on Wednesday. The Aztecs’ other conference loss was against Grand Canyon two weeks ago.
The key stat was the rebounding advantage by the Aggies, including the 15 offensive boards. Coach Brian Dutcher said that was “the number 1 state of the game.” Dixon-Waters added, “We try to let it be just another play and move on, but it definitely affects our momentum. If we’re on the run and they get an offensive rebound or go back up and get a one-and-one, which also happened, it hurts.” Finally, Utah State coach Jerrod Calhoun added, “The difference was that we were the tougher team the last seven minutes of the game. To outrebound a Brian Dutcher team by 15 is the ultimate test of character, and our kids have that.”
The loss drops the Aztecs into a tie with the Aggies, with possibly New Mexico joining them with a win over San Jose State late Saturday. The Aztecs are back in action on Tuesday when they return home to face Wyoming. Aztec fans are already anticipating a rematch with Utah State on Wednesday February 25 at Viejas Arena. In other Mountain West action, Fresno State held on to beat Air Force 79-62. Colorado State and Wyoming are playing this evening and New Mexico is at San Jose State.
This game featured the two top teams in the conference and despite an Aztec loss, they are still very much in contention for a post season berth. The Aztecs are projected as an 11 seed and has a net ranking of 45. They have one quad 1 win at Nevada to go with the quad 3 & 4 loss against Troy. The Aggies are projected as a last 4 in team and a net ranking of 25. They have a quad 1 win against Boise State and a quad 3 & 4 loss against UNLV. Expect both of these teams to be two of the last teams standing, as both have depth and talent to go perhaps two rounds in the NCAA tournament.
