Aztecs Are ‘Down’ in 78-72 Loss to Rams

Just hours before San Diego State lost its season finale, 78-72, to Colorado State, the Aztec coaches sat in a hotel room listening to the telecast of Texas El Paso’s 79-65 win over New Mexico.

The television sets at the hotel in Fort Collins did not get Channel 31. Therefore, the coaches were forced to watch a snow-filled screen and listen to the Miners clinch at least a tie for their third straight Western Athletic Conference championship.

During the broadcast of the UTEP game, Aztec players continually walked in and out of the room asking for their uniforms. Actually, it was a convenient way for the anxious players to check on the UTEP score. Only certain television sets in the hotel even got the audio of the game.

As it became more and more evident that the Miners were going to beat the Lobos, the reactions of the SDSU players made it clear that the “down” Aztecs would be in for a rough night against an “up” Rams team that had won four straight and was playing at home.

Playing in front of a loud crowd of 6,102 fans, the Aztecs got just that rough night in Moby Gym.

Despite staging a frantic rally in the final five minutes of the game, the Aztecs were unable to make up a six-point halftime deficit and a 13-point deficit with five and a half minutes to play.

“A coach can pull all the strings he wants in hopes of finding the right combination,” Aztec Coach Smokey Gaines said, “but we just couldn’t get over the hump.”

It was the second loss in a row for the Aztecs, who finish the regular season at 21-7 and in second place in the WAC with an 11-5 mark.

Before Thursday’s game against Hawaii, the Aztecs were talking WAC championship and NCAA tournament.

Now, they’re talking about rest. SDSU has 13 days off before playing in the WAC postseason tournament at UTEP on March 8. The winner of that tournament gets an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.

Saturday’s results also mean that the family entertainment group, Alvin and the Chipmunks, can rest easy. There will be no WAC tournament in the San Diego Sports Arena, and therefore no conflict with Alvin and his friends on March 8 and 9.

If the Aztecs are to get back on the winning track in the WAC tournament, they will have to play more consistently (they committed 17 turnovers for the second game in a row Saturday) and will have to get a much better performance from guard Anthony Watson.

After having an off game against Hawaii on Thursday, Watson scored just four points on 2-of-13 shooting from the field Saturday night.

The team’s leading scorer also committed costly turnovers and fouled out with 3:04 to play and his team making its final rally.

At that point, the Aztecs had cut a 66-53 deficit to 68-63. Resorting to playground basketball, SDSU narrowed the lead to 76-72 with 33 seconds to play.

Seconds later, Aztec guard Bobby Owens missed a driving lay up from the right side, and Creon Dorsey fouled David Turcotte, who hit both ends of a one-and-one.

“We had confidence we could win this game from jump street (start of the game),” Dorsey said, “but they capitalized more on their breaks.

“They played harder than us. We weren’t keeping our composure. We let down too many times, and our offense didn’t happen like we wanted it to.”

That’s for sure. Watson and center Leonard Allen, the team’s top two scorers, did not score a single point in the first half. Allen finished with just six points.

SDSU was led by Dorsey, who scored 13 of his season-high 22 points late in the second half. Forward Andre Ross added 21 points and 13 rebounds in one of his best games of the season.

Forward Michael Kennedy was held to six points, and Jeff Konek came off the bench to score 10.

While the SDSU offense sputtered against the Rams’ aggressive, man-to-man defense, Colorado State (7-7, 15-11) got the shots it wanted.

The main reason the Rams didn’t win more easily is that they only hit 43% from the field. Forward Rich Strong and point guard Todd Benn led the Rams with 20 points apiece. Turcotte added 14 and center Mike Gray had 10.

Colorado State finds itself playing its best ball of the year going into its last two regular-season games. The Aztecs hope to take the upcoming week to regroup.

“We really thought we’d win the WAC after beating New Mexico,” Allen said, “but we had a downfall. However, I still think we accomplished a lot this season.”