Aztecs Win A Half-Bad Showing : College basketball: San Diego State tried to give the game away in the first half, but Utah wouldn’t accept, as the Utes lost this Western Athletic Conference opener, 67-60.

San Diego State played the kind of first half Thursday night against Utah that should have taken them out of the game.

The Aztecs missed two-thirds of their shots, while the Utes were making 52.2%, and were out rebounded by three.

But instead of being way behind they trailed by two points. The second half, they figured, could only get better. And once it did, the Aztecs were on their way to a 67-60 victory in their Western Athletic Conference opener in front of 2,813 at the San Diego Sports Arena.

“The coach really got on our butts at halftime,” junior forward Michael Hudson said. “He told us we had to come out stronger in the second half.”

The Aztecs (9-5, 1-0) recovered from their shaky opening 20 minutes to make 55.6% (15 of 27) of their shots in the second half in winning for the first time in six games against the Utes (7-5, 0-1).

Junior forward Shawn Jamison provided the offensive spark and the defensive muscle. He scored a game-high 20 points, missing just one of nine shots from the field, and held Utah’s leading scorer, sophomore forward Josh Grant, to 12 points on four-of-13 shooting.

Jamison scored eight of his points in the final 1:55 when the Aztecs turned a 53-51 lead into the final seven-point margin as SDSU exploited what appeared to be a tired Utah team that could not keep up while trying to press at the end.

“We got a lot of cheap baskets off their press,” Brandenburg said.

After trailing by as many as eight points (15-7) in the early going, the game began to turn around for the Aztecs late in the first half. They tied the game twice in the first 5:30 of the second half but did not take their first lead until Jamison’s layup with 11:21 left put them ahead, 44-43.

The Utes stayed close for the next four minutes but after Grant made a six-footer with 6:18 left to lead 49-48, the Aztecs went on a 9-2 run to take a 57-51 lead with 1:31 to play.

Utah got no closer than five points the rest of the way.

Hudson and senior guard Michael Best joined Jamison in double figures. Best had 17 points and six assists as he recovered from a forgettable first half in which he missed 10 of 14 shots. Hudson scored 10 points, his first double-figure game since joining the Aztecs this season, and made his first field goals after missing 12 shots over the previous four games.

The Aztecs were down only 29-27 at the half, but it was more than they probably deserved considering the way they played. And they actually had two chances to tie the game in the final 30 seconds.

SDSU shot 10 for 30 (33.3%) and missed 13 of its first 15 shots. The Aztecs were two of 11 from three-point range. Best was the biggest cold hand, missing 10 of 14 field-goal attempts with most of them striking the rim at odd and twisted angles. No roll-around-the-rim near misses were these.

One sequence was typical of the kind of half it was for Best and the Aztecs. Stealing the ball at the Utah end, he raced down court, tossed a pass too deep for forward Vernon Thompson underneath, forcing him to save the ball just to keep it in bounds. The ball landed in the hands of Best along the right baseline, five feet from the basket, but his shot bounced soundly off the rim for his eighth miss in 10 attempts.

But Best saved his worst for last.

After a missed Utah shot with 34 seconds left in the half, the Aztecs had the ball with a chance to hold for the last shot before the half and a possible tie. But Best launched a running, three-point shot with 30 seconds left that bounced off the rim and was rebounded by Utah guard Tommy Connor; Best’s sixth miss in seven three-point attempts. Best then compounded his mistake by fouling Connor with 28 seconds left.

That sequence earned Best a spot on the bench for the remainder of the half.

“He wasn’t trying to gun them up there,” Brandenburg said. “He knew somebody had to take up the scoring. You can’t take the ball out of everyone’s hands or sooner or later no one is scoring.”

Luckily for Best and the Aztecs, Connor missed the front of his one-and-one and the Aztecs were awarded the rebound. At least this time they waited to take a final shot, but that went awry when Hudson’s three-pointer caught nothing but air.

But like the rest of the Aztecs, Best and Hudson found the second half much more to their liking.

Aztec Notes

Courtie Miller, the freshman forward from Torrey Pines High School, did not suit up for the game for the first time and San Diego State Coach Jim Brandenburg has said he plans to red-shirt him. Miller has not played since a Dec. 6 game against the University of San Diego. Because Miller played in four early-season games, he will have to seek a red-shirt based on medical hardship. Miller has been slowed by a hamstring injury, Brandenburg said. Miller has played eight minutes and failed to take a shot. . . . The Aztecs conclude a five-game home stretch, their longest of the season, at 7:30 Saturday night in a Western Athletic Conference game against Brigham Young. . . . The Aztecs have started the same lineup for every game--guards Rodney Jones and Michael Best, forwards Vernon Thompson and Shawn Jamison and center Marty Dow.