Toreros Defeat Aztecs : College basketball: USD wins cross-town rivalry for third time in a row.

In each of the past two seasons, the University of San Diego has defeated San Diego State in basketball games stocked with suspense and intrigue.

On Tuesday night, the only suspense was what the Aztecs’ Tony Fuller, making his head coaching debut, would wear (a tan suit). And the only intrigue was how in the world a shorter USD club managed to keep getting the ball inside (quickness).

The Toreros drilled the Aztecs, 85-60, in front of 2,909 in the San Diego Sports Arena. It was USD’s third consecutive victory in the intra-city series and the Toreros’ sixth in their past seven tries.

It was also the most lopsided USD victory in the series, surpassing the Toreros’ 76-53 verdict in the 1987-88 season. Fuller will remember this debut like most people remember their first root canal.

“I thought we were ready to play,” Fuller said. “We worked so hard. The guys seemed so pumped.”

Instead, in the season opener for each team, the Aztecs, coming off of a worst-ever 2-26 season, lost their 22nd consecutive regular-season game.

And USD, playing with eight newcomers on a roster of 14, acted as if it were a veteran team at midseason. Senior Gylan Dottin’s 21 points and 13 rebounds were both game highs.

Nine of USD’s 16 second-half baskets were layups.

“We got a lot of shots by getting down the floor in a hurry, I know that,” said Hank Egan, USD’s veteran coach. “I thought it was our quickness and pressure.

“We thought they would kick our butt on the boards.”

However, USD held a commanding 44-33 rebounding lead.

“We didn’t show up,” SDSU forward Tony Clark said, curiously. “They beat us in every facet of the game. That only happens when you get out-worked and out-played.”

Added SDSU’s Courtie Miller: “We were just exceptionally flat. We just went out there and got our asses kicked, period.”

For one thing, SDSU can change coaches and players but the Aztecs cannot change the size of the basket. An age-old problem bit SDSU again: Poor shooting.

USD shot 55% to SDSU’s 35%, had more assists, 18-7, and generally took charge from the beginning.

Dottin was 3 for 3 from the field and 2 for 2 from the free-throw line in the first half. He finished by making eight of 13 field goals.

It was the second consecutive year in which Gylan was smilin’ after burning the Aztecs. Dottin had 13 points and 12 rebounds in last year’s game.

“It was just the first game of the season, and everybody gets excited,” Dottin said. “It just so happens that everything fell our way last year and this year.

“I’ll take it any day. If points fall my way and rebounds fall my way, I’m not one to complain.”

Said Egan: “I thought he was terrific. Gylan and Geoff Probst played super, I thought.”

Probst quarterbacked the Toreros, contributing a game-high six assists and 10 points. Joe Temple added 13 points for USD.

Clark was the only Aztec in double figures, scoring 10 points. Keith Balzer, returning from a redshirt season, went 0 for 5 from the field and Joe McNaull, SDSU’s leading scorer last season, had only five points and nine rebounds.

This one was finished in only a bit more time than it took the SDSU football team to fall hopelessly behind Miami. USD led at halftime, 37-29, but went on a 17-7 run to open the second half. The Toreros led by as many as 28, 83-55.

“I thought it was going to be a much tougher game,” Temple said. “But our defense took over.”

Said SDSU’s Miller: “When (Dottin and Temple) get hot, the rest of their guys play berserk, out of their minds.”

At the start, it took more than four minutes before SDSU managed its first field goal of the season, an inside job from McNaull. Until then, it looked like the Aztecs of yore: Four turnovers and 0 for 4 from the field in the first four minutes.

USD, took the opportunity to run up a 12-3 count. The shorter Toreros were able to get inside for easy baskets early nearly every trip down the court. Dottin, Temple, Brooks Barnhard . . . they took turns.

A Clark three-pointer kicked the Aztecs toward a 7-2 run, which got them back into the game, and they even tied the game on a Berry Randle drive with a little under seven minutes to play before halftime and then took the lead, 25-22, on a three-point play from Marcus Banks.

Perhaps nobody signifies the new and--they say--improved Aztecs as much as Banks. The sophomore from San Antonio, Tex., shed 45 pounds after a tough welcome to Division I basketball last season. Banks left the bench about as often as it rains in southern California.

Banks had six points during the first half but finished with . . . six.

Now, USD travels to Hawaii, where they will open against the University of Hawaii in the, yes, Hawaii Classic on Friday. The Aztecs, meanwhile, take their act back to Peterson Gym to play Cal Poly Pomona.

“I don’t think we’re that bad,” Fuller said, staring at the statistical summary and shaking his head. “I look at the stats . . . We’ve got to be better than that.”