Aztecs Fall Short After Big Rally : SDSU Trails New Mexico by 20 Before Making It Close

Jim Brandenburg could speak only slightly above a whisper during the postgame interview.

That’s what trying to shout above the din of a crowd of 16,937 in New Mexico’s University Arena will do to a coach’s voice.

“Nah,” said Brandenburg, dismissing the croak in his voice, “this is from halftime.”

And what a halftime speech it must have been. His San Diego State basketball team trailed New Mexico by 20 points, and Brandenburg was intent on not walking away Friday night with another embarrassing Western Athletic Conference road defeat.

In that respect he succeeded. Although the Aztecs still lost, 93-85, to snap a two-game winning streak, they did come back strongly in the second half. And on a night when they played their worst defensive first half of season, Brandenburg took some solace in his team’s second-half rally.

“I like the way the guys fought back,” he said. “When you’re down like that, it’s time to get gut tough.”

New Mexico had thoroughly frustrated the Aztecs (9-12, 2-7 in the WAC) in the first half. The Lobos’ full-court zone press had forced 11 turnovers and they outrebounded the Aztecs, 24-14.

“I don’t think they wanted to press us that much,” Brandenburg said. “But when they saw how it was working, they figured, let’s go right ahead.”

The Lobos (18-8, 6-5) scored 20 points off the first nine of those Aztec turnovers, mostly on breakaway slams and easy layups. Those numbers led the Aztecs with a ready answer for their halftime deficit of 57-37.

“That’s the difference in the first half right there,” said Bryan Williams, SDSU point guard. “We just couldn’t get the ball upcourt. We gave them easy baskets and dug ourselves a big hole.”

Only the shooting of Tony Ross, who scored 14 of his 23 points in the first half, kept the Aztecs from being run right out of the Pit, as the arena is known. Ross made 4 of 5 three-pointers in the half and finished 7 of 10 from beyond three-point line.

The Lobos received strong first halves from forwards Hunter Greene and Charlie Thomas. Both had off games in the Aztecs’ 64-59 victory in San Diego Jan. 14. But both played at their best Friday night.

Thomas had 17 of his game-high 28 points in the first half. Greene had 15 of his 21 in the first 20 minutes.

“We changed our offense after that loss,” Thomas said. “We did some things differently this time. We knew we had made some mistakes.”

Those changes and their effective press had the Lobos rolling in the first half. It was just what the rowdy Pit fans wanted to help cheer away the disappointment of road losses to Air Force and Wyoming last week.

“We started to get greedy,” Thomas said. “We wanted a blowout.”

That’s where Brandenburg’s lecture went to work.

“He told us not to give up, to keep fighting,” said forward Rodney Hawkins, who had 17 of his 23 points and 8 of his 11 rebounds in the second half. “He wasn’t going to let us walk out of here after getting blown out.”

Trailing by 67-46 with 16:37 to play, the Aztecs began their comeback. They outscored the Lobos, 20-7, to draw to within 74-66 with 10:07 to play. Suddenly, a game that appeared headed for an early New Mexico rout had turned around.

SDSU continued to stay close over the next four minutes and even had a chance to get within four points. But when Sam Johnson’s 15-foot jump shot from the left side bounded high off the rim and junior forward Charlie Thomas rebounded, it triggered a fast-break slam by center Luc Longley that was the beginning of the end for the Aztecs.

Longley’s dunk started a 68-second, 7-point run by the Lobos that gave them an 85-72 lead with 5 minutes left. Longley, a 7-foot, 1-inch freshman from Perth, Australia, scored six points in the streak. Longley finished with 10 points and 6 rebounds in only 15 minutes. He even made all four of his free throws after entering the game shooting 31.6% from the line.

The Aztecs could get no closer than the final margin the rest of the way. Their comeback effort was hurt by foul trouble--Ross, Johnson and center Mitch McMullen all fouled out in the final five minutes.