Aztecs Can’t Sustain Early Success, Lose Final

Fourteen minutes into Thursday night’s Texaco Star tournament championship game against Villanova, San Diego State guard Michael Best trotted over to Coach Jim Brandenburg during a break.

The juices were flowing, the ESPN television cameras were rolling, and Best had a request.

“I need the ball,” he pleaded.

It was that kind of half. Best had just converted a three-point play, but he wasn’t particularly hot. It was just that, if you were wearing a white Aztec uniform, you wanted the ball. They had the lead, they had momentum, and most of all, they were having fun.

But in the end, the Aztecs couldn’t quite pull the upset off. Final score: Villanova 57, SDSU 52 in front of 4,940 at the San Diego Sports Arena.

Revenge? Not tonight. Villanova had already defeated SDSU this season, 66-58, in the Maui Classic on Thanksgiving weekend. Before that, Villanova defeated the Aztecs in the 1982 Cabrillo tournament championship (before it became the Texaco Star), 63-57.

With this in mind, the Aztecs battled all of the man-to-mans and zone traps and presses Villanova threw at them Thursday. They scored the game’s first 12 points and never trailed in the first half.

They played through the foul trouble of center Marty Dow (fourth foul with 14:39 left in the game) and Best (fourth with 12:59 left), and they watched 7-feet-3 Villanova center Tom Greis foul out with 4:37 to play in the game.

But Villanova guard Chris Walker hit three three-point shots in the second half, the first two keeping Villanova close and the third giving the Wildcats a 49-47 lead with 4:18 left, a lead they would not relinquish.

The Aztecs had the ball and trailed by three, 55-52, but Arthur Massey missed a shot with 13 seconds left, and Villanova’s Calvin Byrd blocked Dow’s follow with 10 seconds left to force a jump ball. Byrd made two free throws with eight seconds left to finish off the Aztecs.

For the game, Walker made five of seven three-pointers and finished with 17 points. Best had 16 to lead SDSU, Jamison added 12 and Dow 11.

It was SDSU’s fourth Texaco Star tournament championship appearance in four years. Last year, SDSU lost to Tennessee, 77-75; two years ago, the Aztecs won the title over Texas Tech, 72-63, and three years ago SDSU lost to Mississippi, 88-77.

Overall, it was SDSU’s ninth championship game appearance. The Aztecs have won three.

SDSU never trailed in the first half. Villanova managed one tie, 26-26, when Walker made a three-point shot with 4:34 left before halftime.

Other than that, the first half fluctuated between SDSU dominating and hanging on.

It started with the Aztecs dominating. Maybe Villanova was flat after defeating Clemson in the tournament’s opening round Wednesday. Maybe the Wildcats were in a funk because a rare San Diego rainstorm Thursday dampened their holiday excursion. Whatever, SDSU stormed to a 12-0 lead with 15:59 left in the half.

During that span, the Aztecs made five of seven field goal attempts and turned three Villanova turnovers into seven points. Villanova made just two field goals in the first 8 1/2 minutes.

But SDSU then turned cold and let Villanova back into the game. The Aztecs went through a spell in which they missed just one shot in 13 possessions--they made seven--but turned the ball over five times. Pretty soon, the score was tied.

Dow made two free throws, and forward Vern Thompson swished a 15-footer to give the Aztecs a 30-27 halftime lead. Combined, SDSU and Villanova made just two of their final 12 shots in the half.

The Aztecs made 11 of 26 field goals (42%) in the first half. Villanova made just eight of 20 (40%).

Clemson easily won the third-place game, defeating Niagara, 85-65.

The biggest surprise came at the opening tip, when Clemson’s 6-foot-11 center, Elden Campbell, was sitting on the bench.

“Three words--concentration, aggressiveness and production,” Tiger Coach Cliff Ellis said.

Campbell eventually got a grip on those three things, scoring 21 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. But it was guard Derrick Forrest’s night. Forrest tied a career high with 23 points.

“It was just one of those special nights,” he said. “I just said I was going to go out and get ready for the conference season.”

Clemson opens Atlantic Coast Conference play Wednesday at North Carolina State.

Clemson took a 6-0 lead before Niagara scored 13 of the next 15 points to go ahead, 13-8. It stayed even for most of the first half, and Clemson led at the intermission, 39-33.

This was despite the urging of Niagara’s 26-year-old Jack Armstrong, the youngest Division I basketball coach in the country. With his constant screaming, waving and stamping, he was easily the most demonstrative coach of the tournament. And when Rollie Massimino is here, that’s quite an accomplishment.

Midway through the second half, Armstrong had coaxed all he could out of Niagara, and Clemson’s superior athletic ability surfaced. Clemson opened a 58-45 lead and was never again in danger.

Aztec Notes

SDSU Coach Jim Brandenburg said the Aztecs will likely red-shirt freshman forward Courtie Miller, a former standout at Torrey Pines High School. “I’d say that’s where we’re headed,” Brandenburg said. “We’d like not to use up a year of his eligibility, because we value his talent and his potential so much.” Miller has played a total of just eight minutes in four games this season and he hasn’t played since Dec. 6 against the University of San Diego. He is limping on a sprained ankle now and is recovering from a hamstring pull. Since he has played in four games, NCAA rules stipulate that he can only be red-shirted for medical reasons. SDSU is red-shirting two other players this season--Nelson Stewart, who played in three games but has a bad knee, and Terrence Hamilton (Patrick Henry). . . . Entering Thursday’s game, SDSU had won seven games in a row in the San Diego Sports Arena--five this season and their final two last season. . . . Shawn Jamison’s 91% shooting from the floor in Wednesday night’s SDSU victory over Niagara was a tournament record.