San Diego State Grounds Air Force : College basketball: Aztecs advance to game against Utah with 58-51 victory.

“I think Utah has a good ballclub. (But) I wouldn’t be afraid to play their ballclub another time in the tournament.”

--Jim Brandenburg, San Diego State basketball coach, after SDSU’s 67-60 loss at Utah Feb. 9.

“(SDSU) is playing very well. I don’t know if I want to run into them in the WAC tournament. They play well together as a team.”

--Utah star forward Josh Grant, same night.

They will get their shot at No. 8 Utah tonight.

They will get this chance because someone, somewhere, smiled on the Aztecs and allowed them to escape the preliminary eighth-ninth-place game Wednesday evening, a game which should send Western Athletic Conference tournament officials directly to the video room.

Once there, WAC officials should immediately erase all tapes of SDSU’s 58-51 victory over Air Force, just to destroy the evidence.

Title this one “Preliminary Lite” --everything you figure you’ll get in a preliminary game, and less.

The Aztecs, in front of 5,417 fans in Wyoming’s Arena-Auditorium, set a new WAC tournament record for field-goal percentage defense by holding Air Force to 26.9% shooting from the field (14 of 52). This shattered the record set in 1987, when Texas El Paso held SDSU to 35% from the field.

SDSU (13-15) was off as well, shooting only 44%, but the Aztecs took an early lead and never trailed. And no matter how it looked, it snapped their four-game WAC tournament losing streak. SDSU hadn’t won a tournament game since defeating Hawaii, 93-90, in 1987.

“It was really strange,” said Aztec freshman Joe McNaull, who had eight points and four rebounds. “We just couldn’t get the ball in the basket.

“But we figured if we stopped them, we’d be all right.”

They were. Keith Balzer, who didn’t start because he missed the team plane Tuesday, still played 25 minutes and scored an SDSU career-high 18 points. And the Aztecs played good--not great--defense.

The Falcons, meanwhile, shot miserably--both when they were guarded and when they were not guarded. They made only one of their first 14 field-goal attempts. They went scoreless over the game’s first 4:52, and scored only two points in the game’s first 9:49. When Chris Lowry made two free throws with 10:11 left before halftime to cut SDSU’s lead to six, 10-4, it brought a loud, sarcastic cheer from the crowd.

Air Force (9-20) didn’t make its second field goal of the first half until the 9:03 mark.

By halftime, the Falcons trailed, 26-19, and were shooting 27% (six of 22). Then came the second half. Air Force again opened slowly, going 5:04 without scoring.

By that time, SDSU led, 32-19, and the game probably should have been locked up. But Air Force went on a 7-0 run to make it 32-26, and the pesky Falcons--who made 14 of 18 second-half free throws--hung around the rest of the game.

They took advantage of off-nights from senior guard Arthur Massey (nine points on two-of-12 shooting; zero-for-eight shooting in the first half) and center Marty Dow (a season-low four points) and got a boost when Dow got into foul trouble (he fouled out with 4:13 left). They cut the gap as low as three, 51-48, when Clark James--from San Diego High--made two free throws with 2:14 left.

Courtie Miller tipped in his own missed layup, though, with 1:31 left, to make it 53-48, and the Aztecs outlasted Air Force.

Aztec Notes

Tonight’s game with Utah will be broadcast live on KFMB radio (760). . . . Forward Courtie Miller and assistant coach Jimmy Williams were involved in a brief altercation in front of the Aztec bench during a timeout with 8:55 left in the first half. Shortly a bad pass by Miller, SDSU called time out and Williams spoke to Miller as he was coming off the court. Miller shouted back, and Williams chased him and grabbed him with both hands, and Miller pushed away. All the while, the two were jawing.