Watson’s Hot Second Half Can’t Save San Diego State

Guard Anthony Watson’s teammates and opponents seem to know just how important he is to the San Diego State offense.

The question is whether Aztec Coach Smokey Gaines understands that.

After Saturday night’s 87-81 Western Athletic Conference loss to Texas-El Paso in front of 12,222 in the Special Events Center, Watson said it looks like he is somehow going to have to get that same point across to his coach.

“Guess I’m going to have to talk to him,” said Watson, who sat on the bench with two fouls during the final 12:55 of the first half.

With the Aztecs trailing, 12-7, and 12:55 to go before the half, Gaines removed Watson from the game because the junior guard had picked up his second foul 14 seconds earlier.

Despite the fact that Watson, who scored a career-high 27 points on Friday night against New Mexico, is the Aztecs’ leading scorer and only consistent outside shooter who had a chance to break UTEP’s 2-3 zone, Gaines benched him for the remainder of the half.

In the second half, the Miners played a box-and-one defense against Watson, but he still hit 10 of 17 shots and scored 25 of his team-high 26 points.

However, it was not enough to keep the Aztecs from losing their second road game in two nights. SDSU got 17 points from center Leonard Allen and 16 from forward Michael Kennedy, but they were the only other Aztecs to score in double figures.

Looking back at the way things turned out, would Gaines have taken a chance on playing Watson with two fouls in the first half?

“I wouldn’t change anything,” he said. “As soon as he got that second foul, I knew I’d keep him out for the rest of the half. When he fouls he seems to foul in spells.”

But the Aztecs hit only 39% from the field in the first half and were in desperate need of Watson’s instant offense from the outside.

Yet, Watson remained on the bench.

“Sitting on the bench like that has happened to me two or three other times this season,” Watson said. “I just try to keep my composure and pump myself up for when I get back in the game.”

He got back in at the start of the second half. At halftime, the Aztecs trailed a sluggish UTEP team, 33-27. The Miners had proven themselves to be a particularly strong second-half club, and the Aztecs had missed a golden opportunity to take advantage of UTEP’s first-half blues.

“I felt a sense of lackadaisicalness on there part in the first half,” said Kennedy, who scored 10 points and had 9 rebounds in the first half. “We tried to capitalize on things, but they didn’t go our way.”

Was Kennedy surprised to see Watson on the bench for so long? “Yes,” he said.

So was a relieved Miner center Dave Feitl.

“At halftime, we wondered why Watson was on the bench,” Feitl said. “He is a great one-on-one player, and he sure lit it up in the second half.”

For the Aztecs (12-4, 4-2), the pattern of the second half against UTEP was painfully similar to what happened in Friday night’s 94-85 loss at New Mexico.

Against the Miners (13-5, 5-1), the Aztecs fought back to within four points on three occasions in the second half. The last time was when they scored seven straight points to close the gap to 51-47 with 10:48 to play.

It was at that point that the patient Miners went inside to Feitl, who scored five quick points to key an 8-2 spurt.

From that point, Miner guard Luster Goodwin took control of the Miner offense. UTEP’s balanced attack was led by Goodwin’s 26 points, including 10 of 10 from the foul line. Feitl added 17 points, Juden Smith had 16 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists, and Hernell Jackson chipped in 16 points.

The Aztecs began this two-game Southwest swing in first place in the WAC, but they come home tied with BYU for fourth place at 4-2. UTEP and New Mexico are 5-1 and Colorado State is 3-1.

“Nothing positive came out of this road trip,” Kennedy said. “The game against New Mexico affected us pretty bad. Overall, the trip was very detrimental.”