Aztecs’ Spark Plugs Misfire : College basketball: Massey, Dow cold as San Diego State’s season ends with 67-56 loss to Utah.

Guard Arthur Massey didn’t have a point in the first half. Center Marty Dow didn’t have a rebound.

San Diego State didn’t shoot well, didn’t pass well, and the Aztecs didn’t get position under the basket for rebounds as often as they needed.

And today, there is no game. The Aztecs punched out for the season Thursday night in a 67-56 loss to No. 8 Utah in the quarterfinals of the Western Athletic Conference tournament.

The hopes and dreams now belong to the Utes as they move on in the WAC tournament and prepare for the NCAA tournament. Utah (27-2) advances to today’s semifinal at 8:35 p.m. PST against Wyoming (19-10), which defeated Texas El Paso, 71-67.

In the other semifinal, Hawaii (16-12), which defeated New Mexico, 68-67, will play Brigham Young (18-12), a 69-56 winner over Colorado State, at 6:05 p.m. PST.

SDSU (13-16) finished with a .448 winning percentage, the Aztecs’ best since the 1984-85 team that went 23-8.

It was SDSU’s ninth loss to Utah in the schools’ past 10 games and, likely, the most bitter. The Aztecs lost twice to the Utes earlier this year, but by just six and seven points. They talked about how they could beat Utah. But . . .

Massey and Dow. So much the story for the Aztecs this season. So much the story Thursday night.

Take these two out of the game, and you take away the heart of the Aztecs. Dow came in averaging 17 points and 10 rebounds a game. Both numbers were SDSU bests. Massey, meanwhile, was SDSU’s second-leading scorer at 15 points a game.

The Aztecs knew that they needed more from Massey than he had been able to give during their first two games against Utah. In those two losses combined, Massey, a senior, had 10 points on five-of-21 shooting. Thursday, it wasn’t much different. Utah guards Tyrone Tate and Jimmy Soto were just too quick for Massey, and when he didn’t get much backcourt help, the script for a long evening was being written. Massey made only three of 15 field-goal attempts and finished with nine points.

It wasn’t Massey’s tournament. In SDSU’s 58-51 victory over Air Force Wednesday, he made only two of 12 field goals and had nine points.

It wasn’t Dow’s tournament, either. He had a season-low four points in the Air Force game, and didn’t heat up against Utah until it was too late. The senior center was beaten on defense several times, and didn’t establish himself on the boards. He finished with an SDSU-high 18 points--13 coming in the second half when the Aztecs were out of it. He also finished with eight rebounds--all in the second half.

“The first half, we had a little problem executing our offense, getting the flow and getting a lot of movement,” Dow said. “They did a good job of shutting down the inside game.”

Said SDSU Coach Jim Brandenburg: “We broke down with our offensive patience and discipline, basically, I think, due to very, very good, solid defense. . . . The other thing that contributed was, all you had to do was look at our guys to see they were absolutely exhausted.”

It was SDSU’s second game in two nights, and the travel has been grueling in the past two weeks for the Aztecs. But they were able to hold Josh Grant, Utah’s all-WAC forward, to five points--13 below his average. But Walter Watts (13 points, eight rebounds) and a well-balanced effort finished SDSU’s season.

The Aztecs had dug a 12-point hole for themselves by halftime, and Utah quickly increased that to 15 early in the second half. By then, the Aztecs were out of the game. The closest they came the rest of the way was eight, when Courtie Miller hit a shot from underneath the basket with 7:29 left in the game to cut Utah’s lead to 50-42, and again when Massey hit a three-pointer with 49 seconds left to make it 64-56.

Things didn’t go well for the Aztecs from the start. They were tentative, careless with the basketball and failed to defend Utah’s inside game. They trailed at halftime, 35-23, in a half that started slipping out of their grasp about midway through.

The Aztecs led, 12-11, but Utah went on a 16-4 run thanks largely to Walter Watts. The burly Utah center--6-foot-8, 260 pounds--scored eight points in a row for Utah to get the Utes started. Brandenburg called time after Watts’ first six, with Utah ahead, 17-12, and 10:29 left in the half. Courtie Miller swished a three-pointer after the timeout to make it 17-15, but Utah scored the next six.

It wasn’t pretty for SDSU. Massey was zero for five from the field and had four turnovers. SDSU made only eight of 24 field-goal attempts (33%) and Utah outrebounded the Aztecs, 22-13. As if their poor shooting wasn’t enough, the Aztecs also had 10 turnovers.

Utah set a school record for victories, surpassing the 26-3 mark of the 1959-60 Utah team and the 26-18 mark of the 1948-49 team.