BYU Hands the Aztecs a Bitter Loss : College basketball: SDSU’s conference opener slips away in the second half. Cougars win, 73-61.

The game was slipping away from San Diego State, and there was nothing the Aztecs were able to do about it.

They led most of the first half. They started out well in the second. Guard Arthur Massey even set the SDSU consecutive free throw record, making six to increase his streak to 34. Then, disaster.

Brigham Young delivered a bitter 73-61 loss to SDSU in the Western Athletic Conference opener for both teams in front of 3,696 in the San Diego Sports Arena.

There was too much Shawn Bradley and Steve Schreiner in the second half for SDSU, for one thing. Bradley, BYU’s 7-foot-6 center, had a game-high 24 points--17 in the second half. This came after he sat out the final 12:03 of the first half.

Schreiner scored 12 of his 15 points in the second half.

The Aztecs were also hurt badly at the free throw line. They made just 13 of 24 (54%), and BYU was 22 of 29 (76%).

Massey led SDSU (5-6) with 16 points and surpassed Joel Kramer’s old consecutive free throw record of 33, set in 1977-78. Vern Thompson had 14 and Marty Dow 13 for SDSU.

After leading by two at the half and increasing that to eight, 44-36, with 13:24 left in the game, SDSU suddenly went cold. BYU (7-7) went on a 14-6 run over the next five minutes and regained the lead, 50-48. Bradley scored 10 points over that stretch as BYU continually lobbed the ball inside to him for several high-percentage shots.

After Schreiner scored from inside to make it 50-48, Brandenburg called time.

It didn’t matter. BYU continued to roll. Guard Nathan Call hit from outside, Schreiner made two free throws and then scored from inside on BYU’s next possession. Thirty seconds later, Schreiner made two more free throws to make it 58-48.

Slipping away? The game was rolling downhill in a Thunderbird, and the Aztecs were trying to catch up on roller skates.

But suddenly, things changed again. SDSU scored nine of the next 11 points--six by Massey--to pull the Aztecs to within three, 60-57. BYU scored the next four points, though, and Brandenburg called timeout again.

This time, it was too late.

It was a game the Aztecs could have won. The lead changed hands six times in the first half before Dow made a layup with 8:58 left before halftime to put SDSU on top, 16-15.

From that point, the Aztecs led throughout the rest of the half and at halftime, 33-31. They didn’t lead by more than six, though, despite Bradley’s banishment to the bench with 12:03 left in the half after he picked up his second foul.

BYU Coach Roger Reid sat Bradley down for the rest of the half. In his eight minutes, he scored seven points and had two blocks, but grabbed only one rebound.

The Aztecs still managed to be on the short end of the boards, though, 19-12.

The difference in the half was SDSU’s full-court, man-to-man pressure. BYU turned the ball over 10 times in the half, and SDSU was able to convert that into 15 points. The Aztecs protected the ball much better, turning it over just three times.

At one point early in the first half, Thompson stole the ball on two consecutive BYU possessions and was able to get a layup both times. That’s how SDSU took its first lead, turning a 5-2 deficit into a 6-5 advantage.

* TONY CLARK TO SDSU

Tony Clark, the state high school scoring champion who left the University of Arizona after one semester, says he will enroll at San Diego State. C2