SDSU Earns Match With Wyoming

It was senior night for the San Diego State basketball team, and the Aztecs turned it into their own successful version of “We Are Family.”

SDSU not only earned a 79-67 victory against Air Force in front of 2,412 at the San Diego Sports Arena Saturday night, it gained a lesson in domestic harmony.

It began with the pregame introductions that included members of the senior players’ families and ended with Tony Ross’ father leading him off the court in a bearhug after he was ejected for fighting.

“He was a little upset,” said Norman Ross, who got up from his cross-court seat to help quiet the tussle. “He needed to calm down.”

Ross was ejected with 4:57 to play by referee Moose Stubing for taking a swing at Air Force guard Mike Hammond after officials had intervened. The incident had nothing to do with the outcome as the Aztecs were leading, 67-51, but it did prevent Ross from challenging both his season (29) and career highs (33).

Ross, who would not comment after the game, left with 26 points on 10-for-16 shooting. But by then, he had done enough to help ensure the Aztecs (12-16, 5-11 in conference) of a regular-season ending victory and a seventh-place finish in the Western Athletic Conference.

The victory means SDSU will play second-seeded Wyoming Thursday at 2:05 p.m. (PST) in the quarterfinals of the WAC tournament in Provo, Utah.

Air Force (11-16, 4-12), which lost its sixth consecutive game, dropped to eighth place and will play Hawaii Wednesday night for the right to meet conferencechampion Brigham Young on its home court Thursday night.

“This was a very important game for our team, and I let them know it,” said Jim Brandenburg, SDSU coach. “We didn’t want to play in that Wednesday game. We put a lot of pressure on our guys to play well.”

Mitch McMullen started slowly but finished with 22 points and 8 rebounds. Bryan Williams had 10 points and 7 assists. And the two seniors on the team, Rodney Hawkins and Juan Espinoza, both played their stronger games of late.

Hawkins had 11 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Espinoza, who has been slowly coming back after missing a month with a fractured vertebra, had 8 points.

The game started as if the Aztecs would have all they could handle from the Falcons. There were seven ties and nine lead changes in the first 14 minutes as neither team was able to build more than a two-point lead.

SDSU acted as if it wanted to push the tempo, but its 23-18 edge on the boards was offset by its 45.2% shooting (14 of 31) from the field in the first half that negated any fastbreak effect.

The Aztecs were more successful, however, with their defensive plan.

Brandenburg employed a triangle-and-two in an effort to slow down Dudley and Hammond, who combined for 36 points in a 60-57 Falcon victory in Colorado Springs Jan. 21.

Brandenburg even employed William Dixion, a seldom used freshman walk-on guard, as a defensive stopper against the Falcon guards. The man-to-man coverage on the guards had its effect as Dudley and Hammond were held to a combined 23 points on 7-for-21 shooting.

SDSU took the lead for good when Ross made consecutive three-point baskets to give the Aztecs a 27-22 advantage with 5:33 left in the half.

Hammond answered with a pair of two-point field goals to draw the Falcons within 27-26 with 4:30 left. But Williams countered with a three-pointer and the Aztecs went on to take a 36-29 halftime lead as Ross scored the last of his 16 first-half points on a driving baseline jumper with two seconds to play.

The Aztecs left no doubt about the outcome when they started the second half with a 22-8 run to take a 58-37 lead with 13:07 to play. McMullen had 11 points and Ross had 8 in the streak.

Pairings for the WAC tournament, to be played Wednesday through Saturday at Marriott Center on the Brigham Young campus (Seedings in parentheses).

Wednesday

Hawaii (9) vs. Air Force (8), 6:35 p.m.

Thursday

Quarterfinals

Colorado State (6) vs. Utah (3), 11:35 a.m.

San Diego State (7) vs. Wyoming (2), 2:05 p.m.

Texas El Paso (4) vs. New Mexico (5), 5:35 p.m.

Hawaii-Air Force winner vs. Brigham Young (1), 8:05.

Friday

Semifinals

San Diego State-Wyoming winner vs. Colorado State-Utah winner, 6:05 p.m.

Texas El Paso-New Mexico winner vs. Hawaii, Air Force or Brigham Young, 8:05.

Saturday

Championship, 7:05 p.m.