Aztecs Get Another Morale Boost : College basketball: In warm-up for Saturday’s opener against North Carolina, SDSU routs Australian professional team, 81-57. Freshmen figure to play big roles for the Aztecs.

The San Diego State men’s basketball team got another shot of confidence Monday night as it prepares for Saturday’s season opener at North Carolina, this one in the form of an 81-57 exhibition victory over the Illawara Hawks of Australia’s National Basketball League.

It was the second consecutive exhibition victory for the Aztecs. This one was basically decided by halftime as SDSU eased to a 49-25 lead in front of 601 in Peterson Gym.

“It was a good game for us because (Illawara) displayed a lot of different things,” said Coach Jim Brandenburg. “They confused us and bothered us for awhile. They would show zone, and then man-to-man, a switching man-to-man.”

The Aztecs did indeed struggle early--four of their first five possessions ended with turnovers. The fifth possession? An air ball by freshman guard Chris McKinney.

“Some of our guys were playing about half-a-step faster than we can play,” Brandenburg said.

Once the Aztecs settled down, though, they were simply too much for Illawara. Keith Balzer, a junior transfer from Imperial Valley Community College, had his second impressive game, finishing with a team-high 20 points in 19 minutes. He made nine of 11 field goal attempts and had six rebounds. Guard Arthur Massey had 13 points and seven rebounds, forward Vern Thompson added 11 points and center Marty Dow 10 points and nine rebounds.

SDSU shot 59% from the floor and held Illawara to 33%. The Aztecs outrebounded them, 40-28.

As was the case in last week’s season-opening exhibition, Brandenburg substituted freely. He used 11 players in the first half, nine figuring prominently in his rotation. The three key returning members of last year’s team--Thompson, Massey and Dow--started along with McKinney and redshirt freshman Courtie Miller.

Early indications are that freshmen will play an important role on this year’s team. Guards McKinney and James Lewis and forward Joe McNaull--all true freshmen--played often. McNaull stood out with six points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots in 17 inutes.

“McNaull had a lot of freshman errors, but he did a lot of big-time things,” said Brandenburg, who said he figured this team is about a three right now on a scale of one to 10.

“If we keep making adjustments, get better and reduce slippage, we’ve got a chance to become a pretty good basketball team,” he said.

Aztec Notes

Center Neal Steinly sustained a strained left Achilles tendon. The extent of the injury will be determined today. . . . SDSU will leave for North Carolina on Thanksgiving Day. . . . Jim Harrick Jr., son of the UCLA basketball coach, is an assistant at SDSU this season. He is not to be confused with Jim Herrick, SDSU’s assistant athletic director for business affairs. . . . Illawara is one of Australia’s oldest teams and was one of 10 founding members of Australia’s National Basketball League in 1978. They won the 1990 preseason NBL tournament.