Aztecs Get the Best, and That’s Enough to Beat New Mexico

Nothing is ordinary about San Diego State guard Michael Best. When he is at his worst, few players are as bad. But when he is at his best, it is something spectacular.

Thursday night was one of those special nights.

Best came off the bench to score a game-high 24 points in leading the Aztecs to a 78-62 victory over New Mexico in a Western Athletic Conference game in front of 3,864 at the San Diego Sports Arena.

He did so with his usual flair. There were three-point baskets, driving layins, pull-up jumpers and reverse layups as Best made 10 of 13 shots from the field. The 24 points were one shy of his career high.

“It’s about time,” Best said. “I can’t say I’m going to shoot like that every night, but tonight must have been my lucky night.”

But scoring was not all he did. He rebounded (six), he passed (three assists) and played defense (three steals). And he did it all in 27 minutes.

His playing time was limited because Coach Jim Brandenburg decided to start junior Arthur Massey in Best’s place, keeping with a lineup he used Saturday in a 72-68 victory at Air Force. Best sat out that game with a sprained ankle.

“Just an old superstitious coach,” Brandenburg said. “I didn’t want to change what was successful. But Mike didn’t seem to mind coming off the bench.”

The game was the kind of breakout performance the Aztecs needed from Best, who has struggled this year with weight and injury problems. Because as good as he was against the Lobos, he was at his near worst in the past two weeks.

Best shot 14 of 46 (30.4%) and six of 25 (24.0%) from three-point range in the Aztecs’ first three WAC games. Brandenburg had said he was going to let Best shoot his way out of his troubles. Maybe his patience was rewarded.

“Michael has been fine in practice,” Brandenburg said. “It has been in the games that he has his problems.”

But those troubles vanished in a second-half blitz that left the Lobos trailing for good.

The first four minutes of the second half were as close they could be as neither team led by more than two points. But that was before Best took over.

He scored nine consecutive points and 11 overall as part of a 22-6 SDSU run that turned a 41-39 deficit with 16:24 left into a 61-47 lead with 8:06 remaining. The Lobos never got closer than 10 and Best added a signature touch with a three-point basket with two seconds left for the final score.

Junior forward Shawn Jamison scored 19 points and junior center Marty Dow added 13 points and 11 rebounds, tying his season high.

The victory raised the Aztecs’ record to 11-7, their best start in five seasons. And it brought their conference record to 3-2 for the first time since the 1985-86 season.

The loss dropped the Lobos to 1-4 in the conference for the first time since the 1981-82 season and 9-8 overall.

The Lobos’ problem was simple against the Aztecs, their offense was limited to Luc Longley, their 7-foot-2 junior center from Australia.

Longley scored 22 points, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked five shots.

But when Longley was not scoring inside, the Lobos had little else. They shot a season-low 38.1% (24 of 63) from the field and made just two of 21 attempts from three-point range.

The final score was quite a turnaround from an opening six minutes in which the Lobos looked unstoppable, racing to a 14-4 lead. And Longley, looked as if he was going to dominate on both ends, scoring twice at his end and blocking three Aztec shots at the other.

The dominance of Longely and the Lobos continued through the first 10 minutes of the half as the Lobos held to a 23-13 lead with the help of eight points from Longley and a press that gave the Aztecs fits. But slowly the game began to swing back toward the Aztecs.

And not surprisingly, it was Longley who had much to do with the change. Almost perfect in the first 10 minutes of the half, he was less than effective in the final 10, missing all five of his shots.

Now it was the Aztecs’ turn to make a run. They outscored the Lobos, 16-6, to tie the game for the first time since 2-2 at 29-29 with 3:40 to play in the half.

The teams played on even ground for much of the rest of the half, with the Lobos holding a 36-35 halftime lead.

“We were lucky to be down by one at the half,” Brandenburg said. “But I figured if we could regroup in the second half and let our defense go to work we would be OK.”