Aztecs Dwindle Down to a Precious Few, Lose

San Diego State’s offense was crisp, and the score was close.

Then, with about eight minutes left in the first half of a Western Athletic Conference basketball game before 11,104 in the University of Texas El Paso’s Special Events Center Thursday, SDSU guard Arthur Massey marched up to Coach Jim Brandenburg and mumbled a couple of awful words.

Stomach cramps.

This was not good. With center Marty Dow already lost for the season, the Aztecs came in with just nine available players.

By early in the second half, they had eight . . . until center Neal Steinly drew his fifth foul with 13:02 to play. Then there were seven.

Going, going . . . gone.

UTEP, 70-55.

The Aztecs (13-14, 4-9) played one of their better first halves in recent weeks, but in the end, it came down to a numbers game. Even with nine players, the Aztecs are usually outmatched. Steinly is 6-feet-11, Shawn Jamison 6-8. Other than that, no SDSU player is taller than 6-6.

And that presents problems for Jamison. All night long, he battled UTEP’s Antonio Davis (6-10), Greg Foster (7-0), Marlon Maxey (6-8), Francis Ezenwa (6-8) and David Van Dyke (6-8).

When one would get tired, UTEP Coach Norm Ellenberger--subbing for Don Haskins, who is out for the season with acute laryngitis--just sent someone else to the scorer’s table. Foul trouble? No big deal. Plenty of big guys to go around. Van Dyke, Foster and Maxey all finished with four fouls.

Jamison led SDSU with 22 points, but just five were in the second half. By game’s end, he was visibly frustrated. He and assistant coach Jimmy Williams had words during a timeout with 3:02 to play and SDSU trailing, 64-49. Williams and Brandenburg said it was nothing more than heat-of-the-moment frustration.

“He was frustrated because we play well enough to win and don’t,” Brandenburg said. “We’re right there, but we can’t get over the hump.”

In the end, numbers certainly did in the Aztecs--but not just the number of dwindling players.

SDSU made just 40% (21 of 52) of its shots from the field and 41% (10 of 24) of its free throws. The Aztecs also turned the ball over 16 times to UTEP’s 11.

“We were fatigued in the second half, and then we turned the damn ball over,” Brandenburg said. “Turnovers and poor decisions are co-pilots with fatigue.”

Massey tried to play in the second half but ended up watching most of it. He finished with just 21 minutes.

“Probably something I ate,” Massey said. “I don’t know. It made me so weak, I couldn’t do anything.”

The Aztecs trailed at halftime, 34-30, despite dictating the tempo and getting 17 points from Jamison.

They kept UTEP guessing by making several defensive switches from zone to man-to-man.

And Michael Best, who has been nearly invisible lately, entered the game with five minutes gone and made several nice feeds to Jamison. Best had seven assists and five points at halftime. But he had no assists in the second half and finished with seven points and nine turnovers.

Had they done better than four of 11 from the line in the first half, the Aztecs might have led. They had out-rebounded the much-taller Miners, 23-19, and their combination of defenses held UTEP to 36% (10 of 28) from the field. UTEP’s biggest advantage was making 13 of 17 free throw attempts.

By game’s end, Jamison was SDSU’s biggest offender from the line: four of 11. He is just a 52% free throw shooter, and UTEP fouled him 11 times Thursday night.

In three Western Athletic Conference games since Dow has been out, SDSU has shot just 43% (67 for 155). Dow was averaging 12 points a game and, now that he is gone, the burden of SDSU’s inside game falls directly on Jamison. By the second half, UTEP’s big men had worn him down.

“He’s a very physical player,” said Davis, who led UTEP with 13 points. “He’s strong inside, he has a nice touch and a nice hook shot. There’s nothing you can do but front him. He can be a franchise player.”

But a franchise player needs a supporting cast. And for now, Jamison is lacking in that area.

UTEP (17-8, 9-4), which has won eight of its past nine games, is just a half-game behind first-place Brigham Young in the WAC race. SDSU, meanwhile, will be back at UTEP in two weeks for the WAC Tournament. The way things shape up now, the Aztecs--alone in eighth place--will play ninth-place Air Force in the tournament’s first game.