San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
AZTECS: ROAD WARRIORS
Flynn’s huge night helps SDSU remain unblemished away
All San Diego State’s basketball team needed was to get away from Viejas Arena.
Get into altitude.
Get into a venue where the hosts had won 20 straight conference home games.
Get in front of 10,855 fans cheering, screaming, screeching against them.
The Aztecs returned to being the team that was 26-0 instead of the one that plodded through a pair of recent home games, from extraordinary to ordinary back to extraordinary, coming from 13 down in the second half Saturday to beat Nevada and end its Mountain West win streak at Lawlor Events Center that stretched back three seasons (and cast a pall over Senior Night proceedings that followed the game).
They did it behind a career-high 36 points from Malachi Flynn that, if anyone had any doubt, likely clinched conference player of the year honors for the junior transfer from Washington State.
But they also did it with Matt Mitchell and Jordan Schakel in foul trouble for most of the second half.
And Yanni Wetzell going the equivalent of two full games without a basket.
And KJ Feagin rolling an ankle badly enough midway through the second half that coach Brian Dutcher went onto the floor to console him before he hobbled to the locker room.
Feagin gutted it out and
No. 5 Azte cs 8 3 76 Nevada
returned, and so did the Aztecs, surviving on a bloody Saturday for teams in The Associated Press top 25. Nine lost, six against unranked opposition.
Instead the No. 5 Aztecs finish the regular season 28-1 overall and 17-1 in the Mountain West, the lone blemish being last weekend’s 66-63 home loss against UNLV. They also become the first team in conference history to go undefeated on the road.
“We just like playing on the road,” Feagin said. “We like the ruckus environment. It was hostile in here. The fans at the end of the court were talking smack before the game. We were down (13). It was kind of a gut check. We like seeing who we are when the time comes to play. We were down, we were bruised and beat up, but we weren’t finished.”
Next up is the conference tournament, where they’ll play Thursday at 11:30 a.m. against the winner of the Wednesday game between the 8 and 9 seeds, Fresno State and Air Force.
Where they’ll have their mojo back.
Where Flynn will have his mojo back.
“I just got going early,” Flynn said, “and then my teammates kept giving it to me.”
Flynn played all 40 minutes at 5,000 feet, scoring 19 in the first half, then another 17 in the second. That included SDSU’S final six points after Nevada closed to within one possession and re-energized the crowd — a step-back jumper, a driving, twisting left-handed layup that rolled around the rim and dropped while he crashed into the cheerleaders under the basket, and two free throws.
He shot 13 of 20 overall, 3 of 6 behind the arc, 7 of 7 at the line. He had five rebounds and five assists. The 36 points are the most by an SDSU player since Brandon Heath had 37 in 2005 against UNLV.
Dutcher: “He put on a show.”
Feagin: “He’s the best guard in the nation, and he showed that tonight.”
Even the Nevada student who berated Aztecs players all game acknowledged greatness. “Twenty-two is a baller,” he shouted as the final seconds ticked off. “I’ll admit that.”
Feagin added 14 points, meaning the starting guards scored 50 while shooting 56.3 percent after amassing 52 points combined while shooting 29.4 percent in the two previous home games, one a loss and the other a near-loss.
Offense was supposed to be the problem. It wasn’t Saturday. The Aztecs shot 52.8 percent after being below 40 percent against both UNLV and Colorado State and missed only one of 18 free throws.
But the game followed the previous two in another area. UNLV and Colorado State both shot 50 percent or better in the first half to build leads. Nevada was even better at 56.7 percent and led 4536 at the break.
Early in the second half, it was 52-39.
The score over the final 16½ minutes: SDSU 44, Nevada 24.
“I just think we decided we wanted to play defense in the second half,” said Feagin, whose team held the Wolf Pack to 39.1 percent after intermission. “First half, they kind of got whatever they wanted. Second half, we just got back to who we are and imposed our will on the game and made them play Aztec basketball.”
The Aztecs got the lead back with a 19-5 Aztecs run fueled by Wetzell’s first basket since moments into the second half against UNLV, but then two bad things happened 21 seconds apart.
With 12:35 to go, Feagin rolled his left ankle and sat on the floor for several minutes while the trainer and Dutcher attended to him. With 12:14 to go, Mitchell picked up his fourth foul and headed to the bench as well.
“To be honest with you,” Dutcher said when Feagin went down, “all I could think about is we’re 20 days from the NCAA Tournament — that should be enough time (to heal). In the back of my mind, I’m thinking he may miss the Mountain West Tournament, but we’re playing for the NCAA Tournament
and we have a lot of time to get ready for that.”
Two minutes later, Feagin was back.
“My team needed me,” the senior guard said. “I taped it up, I could run just enough for me to play, so I got back on the court. Props to the coaches for putting trust in me.”
Mitchell wouldn’t return until 1:45 to go, but that merely tells you how well they were playing — and defending — with reserves Trey Pulliam and Adam Seiko.
The small lineup without a true 3 or 4 on the floor meant they couldn’t run many of their set plays. They didn’t need them, though, when Flynn was slicing and dicing the Wolf Pack (19-11, 12-6) like that. He made a few 3s, but most of his damage came peeling off high ball screens and flipping in layups before Nevada’s help defenders could rotate over.
“It’s pick your poison,” Flynn said “We have a lot of shooters and they were flaring out to them, so the lane was pretty open today. Some teams pack the paint, and that’s when the shooters get open. We have a lot of different weapons on this team, and it’s just feeling out the defense.”
The game featured six ties and 13 lead changes. Nevada led 66-60 with nine minutes to go. Flynn and company hit the Wolf Pack with a 13-0 run and never trailed again.