San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
When top scorers turn quiet, other Aztecs step it up
This was the as-advertised Aztecs basketball depth, f lashed from baseline to baseline Friday at Viejas Arena as Boise State was left to wonder if it had been f lattened by a runaway garbage truck.
One minute, Nathan Mensah lofted a poster-perfect baseline hook. The next, Lamont Butler sliced through the lane for a blur of a layup. When the Broncos clawed for traction, Adam Seiko buried a 3 from Del Cerro.
The points came from all directions in a matchup of teams tied atop the Mountain West.
Actually, not all directions. That’s the thing that made this something more, a mile marker for a team still hunting its full identity, where the quietest corners of the box score at halftime of the No. 22 Aztecs’ 72-52 win oddly reassured.
Leading scorers Matt Bradley and Darrion Trammell: 0 points. Everyone else: 43. “They’ve got great depth, no doubt about it,” Broncos coach Leon Rice said.
The best teams, the ones with true staying power when NCAA Tournament fates are being decided, win when the most important puzzle pieces vanish under the couch.
Others step up. Others find a way.
The Aztecs cruised despite getting the first basket from the either of its double-figure scorers on Trammell’s layup with 18:31 to play. The next basket from the pair came on Bradley’s jumper more than nine minutes later.
When Bradley’s shot slithered through the net, the go-to senior shook his head at finally stemming the offensive bleeding after an 0-for-4 start.
On almost any other night, the point-scoring drought from the two would signal win-loss disaster. That it did not — not even close, against an 18-win team fighting for the conference title — seemed to indicate rising confidence and big-game scoring competence that could make this team flat-out scary.
One game, yes. And the Broncos were missing third-leading scorer and top ballhandler Marcus Shaver Jr. because of a highankle sprain. As Bradley and Trammell spun their wheels, though, it failed to incite panic against a polished opponent.
Teammates did not smell fear, seemingly, but opportunity.
“We all work hard. We’re all good players,” said Trammell, who scored four points but handed out seven assists as others picked up the offensive slack. “I think going into the season, we all knew we had a deep roster and that’s one of the things we hang our hats on.
“Anyone can have their night.” No one had a better night at a better time than the 6-10, defense-first forward Mensah. His 17 points, a career high in a Mountain West Conference game, came on 4 for 4 shooting from the field and 9 for 12 from the line.
Mensah also finished with six rebounds and two blocks.
“That’s the Nathan we know,” Trammell said. “We actually talked in the locker room, we called him Nathan Embiid. He looked like (76ers’ NBA star) Joel Embiid tonight.
“It opens up everything. When he’s going, it’s really hard to do anything because they can’t help off (defensively) on a lot of us if he has the ball in the post. It’s very hard to stop him one-on-one in the post.”
For the Aztecs, the dependence on depth — they rank 37th in bench usage, in 37 percent of their minutes — paid off in an enormous way. For the Broncos, 350th in bench usage coming in, the injury to Shaver and early foul trouble for leading scorer Tyson Degenhart proved fatal.
As the lead grew, the pressure mounted.
“It was blood in the water and here come the sharks,” Rice said.
Aztecs coach Brian Dutcher remained safely and happily on the bench-slash-beach.
The supporting cast was an ensemble. Keshad Johnson scored 10, Seiko and Jaedon Ledee 9 each, Butler 7. The combined total of Bradley and Trammell: 7. When Aguek Arop, who also scored 7, drained a key-high 3 with 8:18 to go — after missing all three of his attempts this season — the scoring-option spigot was cranked wide open.
“It would have been a different thought if it didn’t go in,” Aztecs coach Brian Dutcher said of the surprise launch. “... If it’s a tighter game, I’m probably not going to be real pleased. It’s one of those classic moments in coaching, ‘No, no, no, no … yes.’ I’m glad it went in.”
Asked if future opponents will need to game-plan for Arop at the 3-point line, Trammell laughed.
“They better,” he said. Time will tell if this was a bankable dress rehearsal for tournament scoring potential stretching in untold directions. No one doubts the options exist, but potential does not always equal production, as the Aztecs remind in fits and starts.
The balance impressed, though.
“It was great,” Dutcher said. Signs are beginning to point toward an offense with less limitations than before. Johnson scored in double figures for the 10th time this season, including six of the last eight games.
San Diego State’s coach sees a cavalry forming.
On Ledee: “I think Jaedon’s getting more comfortable. I thought earlier in the year, everyone could see he was trying to press too hard, some of his game. Now he’s letting it come to him a little bit more.”
On Seiko: “(Defenses) can’t lose him. If they lose Adam, that’s a problem.”
On Mensah: “We’ll continue to have great success if he continues to play at that level.”
For now, and finally, as advertised.
bryce.miller@sduniontribune.com