Missed Free Throw Gives Aztecs a Win Over UTEP, 67-66

With two seconds remaining in the game, Dave Feitl’s free throw hung on the rim for what seemed like an eternity.

Would it fall in and give Texas El Paso a chance to beat San Diego State? Or would it fall out and give SDSU an upset of the 17th-ranked Miners?

Finally, the ball fell out. It hit the floor, and UTEP’s Juden Smith had temporary possession. But SDSU’s Kevin Brown knocked the ball away, and the Aztecs had their most important win of the season, 67-66, to pull within percentage points of first-place Wyoming in the Western Athletic Conference.

“Those last two seconds seemed like two hours,” SDSU Coach Smokey Gaines said.

But those were two very memorable seconds for the Aztecs and the 3,663 fans at the Sports Arena.

When Feitl’s free throw fell out, Creon Dorsey became the hero for SDSU. Dorsey had made a 20-foot jumper with four seconds remaining to give the Aztecs a 67-66 lead.

Dorsey wasn’t even supposed to take the final shot. The play was designed to go inside to Steffond Johnson, who scored a game-high 26 points, but Johnson was double-teamed.

So Dorsey, the point guard, had no other choice than take the advice of fellow point guard Tracy Dildy. During a timeout with 25 seconds remaining, Dildy advised Dorsey to take the final shot if he was open.

“The play was designed to go inside to Steffond Johnson,” Dorsey said. “When they sagged off me and guarded Steffond, I said, ‘Man, you disrespect my shot.’ ”

Without disrespect toward Dorsey, UTEP Coach Don Haskins said his team had good reason for double-teaming Johnson. Quite simply, Johnson had been overpowering the Miners (4-2, 15-3) all night long.

“There’s not much of a story, men,” Haskins said . “Steffond Johnson dominated the game in the middle. He scored 26 points, mostly in the paint. The other guys played well, too. Steffond was mostly their force in there.”

Before playing against New Mexico two nights ago, Johnson had missed 12 straight games with a lower back injury. The Aztecs, 5-11 overall, are 2-2 with Johnson and 3-9 without him.

Guess how long it took Gaines to tell reporters how much better his team would have been with Johnson playing all year?

The answer is the same amount of time left to play when Feitl missed his game-deciding one-and-one free throw.

If Feitl had made the free throws to give UTEP a win, Johnson would have been the goat. When UTEP inbounded the ball from beneath SDSU’s basket with three seconds remaining, Smith threw a three-quarters-of-the-court pass to Feitl. Johnson was called for fouling Feitl while the two went for the ball.

“I felt like an idiot,” Johnson said. “I was like a kick returner wondering whether I should let the ball go away or catch it. I thought Feitl had fouled me, and that I would be going to the line. When they said he was going to the line, I said, ‘Oh no.’ ”

Two seconds later, Johnson would be lifting Dorsey in the air in celebration.

The game was as close as the score indicated. Neither team led by more than five points in the first half, and the score was tied at halftime, 33-33.

At the outset of the second half, SDSU used a play it learned from watching Memphis State in the Holiday Bowl tournament last December. The Aztecs had all their players line up near UTEP’s basket, then sent Anthony Watson the other way. Bobby Owens passed the ball to Watson, who scored an uncontested layup against an unsuspecting Miner defense.

But as the half unfolded, SDSU nearly folded. The Aztecs trailed by seven points, 47-40, with 11:18 remaining.

SDSU missed 16 of its first 18 second-half field-goal attempts. The Aztecs went 5:27 without scoring at one point, but UTEP scored only six points during that span.

The Aztecs then connected on their next six straight field-goal attempts to take a 57-52 lead with 6:03 remaining. John Martens made the first field goal, Johnson hit three straight and Watson hit two in a row.

“We were fortunate to still be in the game when we missed all of those shots,” Gaines said. “Sometimes, those things happen. We were only down by seven points. Hey, that’s only four baskets.”

SDSU led by seven points, 60-53, with 3:47 remaining. UTEP scored eight unanswered points and took a 61-60 lead on two Smith free throws with 1:53 remaining.

Johnson hit two consecutive field goals to give SDSU a 64-61 lead. Tim Hardaway then hit two free throws for UTEP. Dorsey followed with a free throw that provided SDSU a 65-63 lead with 42 seconds remaining.

Quintan Gates hit a free throw eight seconds later for UTEP, then Feitl hit two free throws with 30 seconds remaining to give the Miners a 66-65 lead.

SDSU called a timeout five seconds later to set up Dorsey’s winning shot.

“I thought we did a good job on defense,” Haskins said. “We had the middle plugged up well on that shot. If he misses, we probably win.”

Wyoming, which won Saturday against Utah, 94-79, leads the WAC with a 3-1 record. The Aztecs, UTEP and Brigham Young are percentage points behind at 4-2. New Mexico had a 3-2 record before playing at Hawaii late Saturday night.