Wounded, Winless Aztecs Defeated by Oral Roberts, 89-77

If San Diego State could be given a new team emblem, two giant bandages would fit for now.

One bandage could help cover the scars of SDSU’s first 0-4 start in 62 years. The other could symbolize the team’s numerous injuries.

SDSU suffered loss No. 4 Wednesday night when it was defeated by Oral Roberts, 89-77, in front of 3,534 at Mabee Center.

“This is the toughest time I’ve had in my life,” Aztec Coach Smokey Gaines said. “I guess you have to have the rain to enjoy the sunshine. I guess you have to pick the weeds to enjoy the flowers. I’m doing the best job I can with the kids I have. You hate to get in this kind of situation. Believe me when I tell you.”

The injury situation is such that SDSU dressed only nine players Wednesday, six freshmen and three seniors.

Creon Dorsey became the latest among the limping wounded when he missed the game with a sore right knee. Steffond Johnson was again sidelined with muscle spasms in his lower back, and Gerald Murray probably will miss the season because of a broken kneecap.

Want more woes?

Consider that four players have left the program since last year for various reasons--David Grissom, Ira Harge, Mike Haupt and Anthony Sands.

And then there were forwards Wilbert Frazier and Curtis Gates, two of the top freshman recruits for this season. They were not admitted to SDSU under the school’s new academic standards for athletes.

“The team I expected to have wasn’t this team,” Gaines said. “I’m not making excuses and alibis. If we had the players we anticipated, we could’ve walked all over a team like Oral Roberts. We had hoped to bring our young kids along slowly but we can’t. We’re like a high school team, to tell you the truth.”

The Aztecs started three players against Oral Roberts (3-1) who were in high school last year--Josh Lowery, Kevin Brown and Tracy Dildy. And their first two men off the bench were freshmen Johnny Scruggs and Jeff Bobin.

If seniors Johnson and Dorsey had been healthy, both probably would have started.

“There are two things we’re dealing with with 11 players on our team,” Gaines said. “We’re talking about not having confidence because we’ve lost four games, and we don’t have the competition on our team to make guys better. It’s hard.”

On the court, SDSU’s biggest difficulty has been caused by a lack of height. When Gaines rested 6-foot 8-inch forward John Martens at one point of the second half, the tallest Aztec playing was Lowery at 6-4.

And the lack of size showed. Maurice Smith, a 6-7 Oral Roberts forward, had a game-high 19 rebounds. All of SDSU’s players combined had 18 rebounds. The Aztecs also had 6 team rebounds as they were beaten badly on the boards, 45-24.

Smith had 11 rebounds in the second half when SDSU was often going with a five-guard defense. The Aztecs went with quicker players while applying a fullcourt press in the final seven minutes.

“I think we’re the only team in the country to be playing five guards,” Gaines said. “You can’t foresee having to do those things. At times, we’re getting in situations where I think we are snakebitten.”

Ideally, SDSU would have had the 6-9 Brown on the court. However, Gaines kept Brown sidelined most of the second half because he thought Brown “was not in the flow of things.”

The Aztecs were in the flow early, leading throughout the game’s first 11 1/2 minutes. But Oral Roberts took the lead for good with 12 unanswered points, taking a 34-24 lead with five minutes left in the half.

SDSU fell behind by 16 points, 65-49, with 7:47 remaining. After scoring two straight baskets and cutting its deficit to 12 points, SDSU pressed for the final 7:17.

The Aztecs eventually cut their deficit to six points four times down the stretch. However, Oral Roberts sealed its win by making 10 straight free throws in one-and-one situations in a two-minute span that began with 3:10 remaining.

Anthony Watson of SDSU scored a season-high 26 points, but the final result told the story of the Aztec season thus far.