Second Half Ruins Night for Aztecs

OK, so it was halftime, the San Diego State basketball team was playing before 20,238 screaming Brigham Young fans in the Marriott Center and hadn’t completely followed everything Coach Jim Brandenburg had mapped out for them Thursday night.

They were meeting the Western Athletic Conference’s first-place team, on the road, and there was no room for a bad pass here and a turnover there.

Brandenburg and the Aztecs knew that. But they had nonetheless managed to make it to halftime with the score tied by controlling the tempo for the most part, playing good defense and holding their own on the boards.

Then came the second half, and the Aztecs’ shooting was colder than the snow outside. They made some more costly turnovers. And suddenly, Brigham Young had a nine-point lead . . . a 14-point lead . . . and a 75-58 victory.

“We went in at halftime tied, 30-30, and I’ve brought a lot of good clubs in here that haven’t been tied at halftime,” Brandenburg said. “I thought if we started playing a little better in the second half, we could win the game.”

BYU (17-3, 8-1), held in check for the most part during the first half, went on a 13-4 run in the first 4:38 of the second, and SDSU (12-10, 4-5) never recovered.

The Aztecs were able to cut it to 10, 59-49, when Michael Hudson sank a three-point shot with 6:35 to play, but that was their last gasp. On BYU’s next possession, senior forward Andy Toolson answered with a three-pointer of his own with three seconds left on the shot clock.

It was obvious. This was not SDSU’s night.

Of course, SDSU has few good nights on the road. The Aztecs have now won just once in their past 17 games on an opponent’s home court and just five times in their past 50 road games. As for the WAC, the Aztecs have lost 34 of the past 37 on the road.

BYU is 12-0 at home this season and has won eight in a row.

The Aztecs shot a paltry 32.1% from the field during the second half and just 37.7% (20 of 53) for the game. BYU hit 54.8% of its shots and 50% of its three-point attempts (seven for 14). SDSU made just three of 13 three-point tries.

Center Marty Dow led SDSU with 15 points and 10 rebounds but managed just four points in the second half. He drew his fourth foul with 11:03 to play, and forward Shawn Jamison (10 points) followed with his fourth foul with 9:22 left.

Those weren’t the only depressing second-half numbers for the Aztecs:

--For a variety of reasons, including time on the bench in foul trouble, Dow attempted just two field goals (making one) and Jamison tried just three (making two).

--Guard Michael Best, who started for the first time in five games, made just two of 10 shots and had four turnovers after halftime:

--SDSU had eight second-half turnovers (15 for the game) to BYU’s three.

--SDSU was outrebounded, 22-17 (34-32 for the game).

“They just came out ready to play in the second half, and we didn’t,” Jamison said. “They didn’t lose their composure. They just played.

“They’re real disciplined, sort of like Kansas. They don’t look like they’re real good, but they run their plays to a T. They know what they’re supposed to do.”

BYU center Steve Schreiner finished with 24 points and 12 rebounds, both career highs. Toolson added 22 points, and Marty Haws had 14.

The Aztecs didn’t trail by more than six in the first half and pulled into a tie with a nifty play as time expired.

Vern Thompson took the ball out of bounds near the mid-court line with two seconds left and lobbed a pass toward the basket. Jamison snuck behind the BYU defense and was able to catch it for an easy layup to make it 30-30.

That was one of the few things that came easy for either team in the first half. SDSU was deliberate each time it had the ball, attacking various BYU defenses by making four or five passes and running at least 20 seconds off the clock nearly every possession.

Defensively, the Aztecs were able to keep Haws and Toolson quiet for a while, but Toolson finally came alive with just under 10 minutes remaining to make three baskets in a row for BYU, including two three-point shots. The game was tied, 11-11, when Toolson made the first three-pointer. When he was finished, BYU had an 18-13 lead.

Guard Rodney Jones sprained his ankle in the first half. Although he returned to play, he was limping noticeably.