Aztecs Pay Back the Utes in Victory

Anthony Watson called it The Big Payback. This is the year the San Diego State Aztecs have someplace to go and maybe the talent to get there.

“We’re really hungry,” the junior guard said. “We’ve got something to prove to ourselves and our conference.”

Watson might also have mentioned that the Aztecs seem to have something to prove to the community. Off to their best start in Division 1 basketball, they drew only 2,414 fans for Thursday night’s 76-67 win over Utah.

The win improved the Aztecs’ Western Athletic Conference record to 3-0 and their overall record to 11-2 going into Saturday night’s game against Brigham Young University.

A year ago, when Utah came to town, the Aztecs had just discovered that the NCAA had put them on probation and knocked them out of postseason play. They came out in a funk and suffered a 74-68 loss.

“I think they got up on us something like 12-zip,” Watson said. “We were really flat. It’s hard to explain the feeling, but it wasn’t any thrill.”

The 1984-85 Aztecs are once again eligible for postseason tournaments, and playing like they intend to be rather active participants.

What’s more, the Aztecs are more totally involved. Michael Cage is gone, and everyone is expected to pick up the slack.

“It feels more like we’re playing basketball,” Watson said. “Everybody’s got a part. It feels good to be part of a team rather than have one guy score all the points.”

The biggest point production Thursday night came from the big men inside--Andre Ross with 21 and Leonard Allen with 20--but the guards did the damage during a critical second-half stretch which determined the outcome.

Trying to cut down the Aztecs’ inside punch and protect a starter with three fouls, Utah went to a zone defense with the score tied, 50-50, and 11:07 to play.

Four minutes later, when Utah finally abandoned the zone, the Aztecs were ahead, 60-50.

During that four-minute span, and for the remainder of the game, the Aztecs went with three guards. They produced the 10 consecutive points which finally took the Utes out of the game.

Watson broke the 50-50 deadlock with a layup off a behind-the-back assist by Creon Dorsey. When Utah bobbled the inbounds play, Jeff Konek scored from the outside.

And the guards kept on cooking Dorsey with two free throws, Watson from the side and Konek from outside. It was like the big men, Allen and Ross, were not even on the court.

When Utah was out of the zone, the big men got their opportunities. Both Allen and Ross shot 8 of 12 from the field, and they were the top two rebounders on the court. Ross had 11 and Allen 10.

Utah came into the game with the Nos. 3 and 4 scorers in the conference, Kelvin Upshaw with a 21.0 average and Jerry Stroman with an 18.3 average.

“If we stopped Upshaw and Stroman, we thought we had a chance to win the ballgame,” Aztec Coach Smokey Gaines said. “We wanted to get the lead and make them beat us from the outside.”

Stroman was the Utes’ top scorer with 17 points, but Upshaw was held to 8 on 4 of 15 shooting.

Utah, meanwhile, was getting 14 points from Tim McLaughlin. However, McLaughlin was also accumulating fouls as he battled the Aztecs’ big men. He fouled out with 3:52 to play.

“We wanted to take the ball inside and get him out of there,” Gaines said.

When Utah went to the zone to protect McLaughlin, it simply got burned by the Aztecs’ guards.

“Against a zone, I’m supposed to move it and pop it and move it and pop it and see what’s open,” Dorsey said.

His sidekicks in the backcourt were usually open.

Utah had played rather tenaciously to keep the game close until the Aztecs’ guards could finally break it open.

“We weren’t getting the fast break like we normally do,” Dorsey said, “so we had to come up with something to ignite us.”

Nothing ever really seemed to “ignite” the Aztecs. They played what might be called a cliche game. They took what Utah gave them until they had taken enough to win.