PULLED OUT OF FIRE
Aztecs struggle to make outside shots but avoid upset, rallying from eight down in second half with defense
San Diego State made 19 3pointers in Friday night’s win against Division III Occidental College, equaling the Viejas Arena single-game record.
Told it was set by Troy University in 2003 in a ninepoint win against the Aztecs, and knowing the Trojans were their next opponent at Viejas, guard Adam Seiko joked: “Hopefully they don’t do that again.”
Uh …
The Trojans looked like they might, making seven 3s in the first half and leading by eight points midway through the second before the freshly No. 22-ranked Aztecs pulled another one out of the fire Tuesday, 60-55 before an uneasy crowd of 12,038.
“Another hard-fought game,” said coach Brian Dutcher, whose team needed a last-second 3 to beat UC Irvine here six days earlier. “I told the guys, ‘I feel bad for the schedule I put together.’ But it’s going to toughen us, there’s no question about that. We knew Troy is good. They had our full attention. It’s not like Troy came in and played us tough because we overlooked them.”
And the Trojans (6-4), who already have a road win at Florida State and nearly one at No. 9 Arkansas, were certainly part of the problem.
But so, increasingly, is an SDSU team that is 7-2 and nationally ranked but not always playing like it. That scored their season low by 10 points. That is banged up physically and mentally. That continues to turn the ball over too frequently (17 against Troy). That reverted to its recent 3-point shooting struggles, finishing 4 of 22. That let a team missing its leading scorer and two bigs hang around deep into the second half.
Not just hang around, but lead. It was 45-37 with 10 minutes to go when the Aztecs decided that they didn’t want to lose a “buy” game, where their school pays the visitors in the high five figures to play a one-off date on their home f loor. An 11-0 run got them the lead, punctuated by a Seiko 3.
A twisting Darrion Trammell
layup in traffic put the Aztecs up five inside a minute to go, but then Trammell was whistled for fouling Nelson Phillips attempting a 3. He made the first and missed the next two, only for the rebound to be knocked out of bounds.
Amy Bonner, a rare female official in Div. I, signaled Troy ball. After a lengthy video review, the call was upheld, giving Troy life. The Trojans worked the ball to Aamer Muhammad (21 points), who drove hard against Trammell.
Who stripped the ball, was fouled and made both free throws to ice it.
“He tried to drive baseline,” Trammell said. “Coach Dutcher hates when guys drive baseline, so I had to make up for it with a steal.”
Matt Bradley led the Aztecs with 19 points on 7of-10 shooting, including his first pressure free throws since missing several late in losses last season (he made both). Trammell, who sat out Friday with a tweaked hamstring, had 14 points but shot 4 of 13 (1 of 6 on 3s). Nathan Mensah had seven
points, nine rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block in a season-high 31 minutes.
The bigger factor was the Aztecs defense, which held the Trojans to 21.4 percent shooting in the second half and only eight points over the final 10½ minutes (and that included a desperation 3 with six seconds left). Their 55 points was a season low, six fewer than against Arkansas.
Troy’s first-half 3s: 7 of 18. Second half: 2 of 10. “They made seven 3s in the first half,” Dutcher said. “If they’d have made seven in the second half, they would have won.”
Said Troy coach Scott Cross: “We knew it was going to be tough. They’re the best defensive team we played or will play all year long. … It’s a want-to. Yeah, they’re athletic. They have great feet. But they want to play defense. That’s why they’re good at it.”
The Trojans weren’t bad at it, either, aggressively denying passing lanes and forcing the Aztecs to beat them off the dribble or from the perimeter when they kicked the ball out. The 60 points were 19 fewer than SDSU’s average, and the 17 turnovers are a season high — and 10 more than it had in
an 88-77 win against No. 25 Ohio State.
Give Cross an assist for the victory, though. Dutcher was reading an article about Troy’s loss Saturday at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville and wrote one of Cross’ quotes on the locker room whiteboard before the game: “The toughest team always wins.”
And in the end, that’s really what happened. Troy led for 18:47, SDSU for 15:50. SDSU won.
“We’ve had some tough games,” said Bradley, whose team blew a four-point lead inside 15 seconds to go in an overtime loss against Arkansas at the Maui Invitational. “Looking at the schedule, you’d think we’d have a little bit of layoff after Hawaii, but UC Irvine and Troy both put up a great fight. Hats off to them. They’re doing a great job competing against us. But we’re winning games.
“We learned our lesson in Hawaii. We’re closing out games. That’s the biggest improvement we needed to make from Hawaii. We’ll get better shooting the ball and doing other things, but winning games is the best thing we can do right now.”