Aztec Drought Persists With Loss to Lobos

Beaten. Defeated. Overtaken. Manhandled. Destroyed.

Different night, different words, same story for San Diego State.

The Aztecs, watching as a poor pre-conference start turns into a similar Western Athletic Conference beginning, were trampled Thursday night by New Mexico, 90-68, in a game they actually led for the first 11 minutes.

It was SDSU’s seventh consecutive loss and, as usual, The Pit was the pits for the Aztecs (2-12, 0-2). In front of 15,230, the Aztecs lost their eighth consecutive game here and seventh in a row this season.

There were nearly as many reasons as fans.

Start with guard Willie Banks’ 21 points. And New Mexico’s Khari Jaxon not only had 17 points, but he held Joe McNaull, the WAC’s third-leading scorer and second-leading rebounder, to one point and two rebounds.

The Aztecs unleashed another of their patented offensive droughts at the Lobos, going scoreless for 7:07 in the first half.

Forward Nelson Stewart was called for a technical foul in the first half and guard John Molle was whistled for another technical in the second, costing the Aztecs a combined nine points.

The list goes on, and it is a familiar one. A scoring slump? Against Southern Utah State on Saturday, the Aztecs managed only three field goals in the final 10 minutes.

Against New Mexico (9-6, 3-0) on Thursday, the Aztecs shot only 35% from the field. Molle and Tony Clark led the way with 15 points but, aside from Stewart’s 11 points and 11 rebounds, there wasn’t much else.

“Basketball is a game played in spurts,” SDSU Coach Jim Brandenburg said. “We’ve got to keep those dry spells down to a minimum, not a maximum.”

It also would help to keep turnovers to a minimum. A sticky New Mexico press caused the majority of SDSU’s 23 turnovers.

Not that that is anything new. It was the sixth time this season that the Aztecs had at least 20 in a game. Freshman guard Robert Ringo was the most generous with seven.

The Aztecs generally turned the ball over quicker than Brandenburg could call a timeout. Virgil Smith threw a pass away with about 10 minutes left in the game, and Steve Logan hit a three-pointer to give the Lobos a 62-41 lead.

With Brandenburg frantically signaling for a timeout, the Aztecs took the ball out of bounds, and Vladimir McCrary stole it and dunked to make it 64-41.

SDSU then finally got the timeout before the Lobos could score again. Whew.

“Our press frustrated them,” said Jaxon, who has shot 82% over the past six games. “They couldn’t set up their half-court offense and they started arguing among themselves.”

And Jaxon frustrated McNaull. Jaxon was behind him, in front of him, beside him; McNaull got off only five shots.

“They told me to play good defense and switch,” Jaxon said. “He’s strong, and I’m not that big. I just used my quickness.

“In the second half, he seemed like he wanted the ball, but the players didn’t seem like they wanted to throw the ball to him.”

McNaull had a different story.

“It was all me,” he said. “I didn’t come to play. I couldn’t get rebounds, I couldn’t play defense, I couldn’t do anything.

“I felt like I didn’t deserve the ball. I wasn’t playing hard, and they shouldn’t have thrown me the ball.”

The Aztecs got off to one of their quickest starts of the year, jumping to leads of 7-0 and 10-3. Molle hit a 10-foot jumper and two three-pointers, and things were rolling.

Then, things returned to normal. Molle was replaced at a television timeout with 14:58 left and SDSU ahead, 10-5, and the Aztec offense never returned.

“We were trying to get a rotation so we could play (at New Mexico’s altitude) for 40 minutes,” Brandenburg said.

Said Courtie Miller: “We had no offensive rhythm. We were shuttling players in and out at a brisk rate. If we could have found a combination and stayed with it . . . but we couldn’t find a combination that worked.”

During SDSU’s seven-minute drought, the Lobos outscored the Aztecs, 17-0. Six of those points--three free throws followed by a three-pointer--came when Stewart was called for an intentional foul and technical for hitting Lobo guard Will Scott in the face.

Maybe that wasn’t SDSU’s brightest move of the night.

“I pushed him in the face,” Stewart said. “I didn’t think the ref saw it, but I pushed him in the face. I was trying to sneak it in, but (the ref) caught it. We were arguing on the court.”