Aztecs Win Fifth Game, Beat Bucknell

San Diego State won five basketball games all last season and didn’t pick up its fifth win until Game No. 29, in March.

With their 87-70 victory over Bucknell Sunday in the first round of the Holiday Bowl tournament in front of a season-high 2,737 in the San Diego Sports Arena, the Aztecs equaled their victory total of last season.

SDSU is 5-5 going into tonight’s championship game at 8:30 against Texas Tech, which beat Fresno State, 58-55, in Sunday’s first game. Fresno State will play Bucknell in the third-place game at 6:30.

Under first-year Coach Jim Brandenburg, SDSU has played three straight impressive games at the Sports Arena this week.

The Aztecs defeated Dartmouth, 86-59, Monday; lost, 77-76, in overtime to a good Rhode Island team Wednesday and beat a Bucknell team that came into the game with a 5-2 record and a field goal shooting percentage and three-point percentage both more than 50%.

SDSU led Bucknell, 41-37, at halftime. Then, in what many coaches say is the key part of the game, the Aztecs scored the first seven points of the second half to take a 48-37 lead. The Aztecs never led by fewer than eight points after that, but Bucknell refused to fold and the Aztecs had trouble putting them away.

It wasn’t until SDSU scored six straight points and turned a 66-57 lead into a 72-57 lead with just more than six minutes to play that they seemed to be totally in command.

The Aztecs had five players score in double figures. SDSU guard Tony Ross, re-joining the starting lineup after Ty Walker (out with food poisoning Sunday) started the last two games, had 21 points on 6 for 17 from the field.

Senior forward Rodney Hawkins continued his torrid play with 18 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists and 5 blocked shots. Hawkins had 24 points and 12 rebounds against Dartmouth and 23 points and 13 rebounds against Rhode Island.

Center Mitch McMullen came off the bench to score 14 points. Guard Bryan Williams had 12 points and starting center Sam Johnson had 10 points and 9 rebounds.

Bucknell made 10 of 21 three-point shots, as compared to 2 of 11 for SDSU, but Bucknell hurt itself by committing 22 turnovers. It was led in scoring by forward John Watson with 18. Guard Mike Joseph had 17 points, but also committed 10 turnovers. Guard Ted Aceto had 15 points and forward Bo Heiden had 10. Center Mike Butts, limited to 25 minutes because of a cut on his hand, had 8 points and 10 rebounds.

SDSU outshot Bucknell from the field, 52% to 44%. And it led from the 10:45 mark of the first half.

Bucknell built a 5-0 lead, and led 14-9 until SDSU scored 11 straight points in a 4:38 stretch to take a 20-14 lead. SDSU led by 10 points twice, 35-25, and 37-27, but Bucknell’s three-point shots kept them in the game.