Utah Run Puts Away the Aztecs

There was Courtie Miller with a block, a rebound, another assist, playing his finest game for San Diego State. There were Marty Dow and James Lewis, hustling, shooting, scrapping. The Aztecs were on the move. Everything was clicking.

Finally.

Trouble was, these good moments came after several bad moments in the first half.

And that was no trouble at all for Utah, which escaped the San Diego Sports Arena on Saturday night with a 68-62 victory. The Utes built a 17-point halftime lead thanks to a 13-0 run midway through the first half.

SDSU (5-7, 0-2) spent the second half employing a three-guard offense, frantically attempting to come back. The Aztecs eventually cut the Utah lead to three with about eight minutes left, but could come no closer as they lost their second consecutive Western Athletic Conference game. It was the ninth consecutive victory for Utah (13-1, 2-0).

Once again, the Aztecs sent their fans--a crowd of only 2,867--home talking about what it would be like to see the home team play 40 minutes of basketball rather than 20. Once again, the Aztecs were left shaking their heads and mumbling.

Somewhere among the postgame burgers and fries in the SDSU locker room lay the answers to playing a complete game.

“We’re trying to get people to hustle for 40 minutes, not 30 or 25,” freshman guard Chris McKinney said. “Until we hustle for 40 minutes, we’ll continue to lose. Point blank.

“It’s a lack of hustle. Not wanting to play defense the whole game. Wanting to get the lead and then relax. In this style of ball, you can’t do that.”

SDSU’s first-half shooting was atrocious. The Aztecs made just five of 25 shots. Utah shot 46.7% (14 of 30).

Those weren’t the only first-half numbers that didn’t add up in SDSU’s favor. Utah outrebounded the taller Aztecs, 20-18, and had four fewer turnovers.

But SDSU shot 56% in the second half and, at one point, made 13 of 16 field-goal attempts. And, the Aztecs held Josh Grant, Utah’s scoring leader, to two second-half free throws after he had scored 11 first-half points. Grant, averaging 17 points a game, went 24:55 without scoring.

It was a complete turnabout from the first half.

Dow led SDSU with 14 points. Miller had 12 points, five assists, two rebounds, two steals and a block. It wasn’t enough.

Thursday’s SDSU-Brigham Young game was similar. SDSU was doing well, but BYU went on a 14-6 run midway through the second half and the Aztecs ended up losing.

What’s the answer?

“Just having five guys who want to play hard for 40 minutes,” McKinney said. “Guys who don’t want to play hard for 40 minutes, sit on the bench and watch. I’m sick of this.

“At times, when (SDSU Coach Jim Brandenburg) goes to a three-guard offense, that’s when we play our best. When he makes substitutions, sometimes the guys he brings in, the momentum drops off a lot and it’s hard to pick it back up.”

Down 17 at the half, Brandenburg used guards McKinney, Arthur Massey and James Lewis for much of the second half. Forward Joe McNaull, who had two points, two rebounds and a block in five first-half minutes, didn’t play in the second half.

“Basically, we just didn’t have any match-up for him,” Brandenburg said. “I didn’t think he could match up with (Utah center Walter) Watts.”

Utah Coach Rick Majerus credited SDSU’s second-half strategic changes with turning the tide.

“They ran a couple of plays we weren’t prepared for,” Majerus said. “Some nice plays. They made some nice personnel adjustments, went with three guards, and we couldn’t match their guards.”

Utah led at halftime, 35-18. But the margin was only eight at 9:27, and SDSU cut it to three, 53-50, when Dow hit from inside a minute later. But the Aztecs then went scoreless for three minutes.

Which was nothing knew. SDSU took its final lead with 12:09 left in the first half on a Thompson layup. That made it 11-9, SDSU, and little did the Aztecs know what was to come next . . .

Utah reared up and went on a 13-0 run, then made it a 16-2 spurt, taking a 25-13 lead. SDSU, thanks to Utah’s physical, stifling man-to-man defense, turned as cold as a Midwestern January’s evening. The Aztecs’ last field goal of the first half came with 7:58 remaining, when Massey hit a five-foot jumper from the key.

Aztec Notes

Entering Saturday’s game, Utah led the series with the Aztecs, 21-7. . . . SDSU forward Keith Balzer missed his fourth consecutive game with tendinitis in his right knee. The Aztecs would like to hold him out of games for the next two weeks so he can rehabilitate the knee, but that decision has not yet been made.