AZTECS SQUEAK BY
Pal’s block helps SDSU avoid OT; LeDee has big game with 31 points
Maybe it was the Provident Credit Union Event Center floor design, which is a giant silicon chip intertwined with a Spartan helmet that covers the entire space between the 3-point arcs in deep blue and yellow.
Or maybe it was finally getting ranked, all the way to No. 19, in the Associated Press poll after being snubbed the previous week following the double-digit win at thenNo. 13 Gonzaga.
Or maybe Saturday’s looming showdown at The Pit against New Mexico.
Whatever it was, San Diego State looked distracted Tuesday night, averting complete and utter disaster on a last-second block off the glass by Campbell transfer Jay Pal to win 81-78 at San Jose State.
Yes, the San Jose State that was 1-17 against the Aztecs since joining the Mountain West in 2013-14.
The San Jose State that had lost 30 straight against ranked teams.
The San Jose State that entered the night 178 in the NET and was as low as 225 in one metric.
“As crazy as it may sound, this is exactly how I thought the game would go,” coach Brian Dutcher said. “We knew it was going to be this kind of game. I don’t want it to look like, oh, you were overlooking San Jose State for New Mexico. That’s the furthest thing from the facts. (Coach) Tim Miles has a good team this year. They just have not won the close game.
“That’s the difference between having the year we’re having and
having the year they’re having.”
SDSU (14-2, 3-0) has now played 16 games. Five have come down to the final possession or gone to overtime.
The Aztecs have won all five — and 13 straight, incredibly, going back to last season.
“We have a lot of experienced guys on the team,” said sixth-year senior Jaedon LeDee, who had 31 points and 10 rebounds, drew 15 fouls and shot 19 free throws, several of them down the stretch. “We don’t get rattled when things get going (sideways). We stay the course, and we pulled another one out tonight.”
Their latest escape act: They got the ball back on a replay review, up four with 1:15 left. But they couldn’t convert, and the
Spartans pulled within two on a pair of Alvaro Cardenas free throws.
They called timeout and set up a play to get the ball to LeDee inside, but Pal’s entry pass was tipped and resulted in a shot-clock violation.
That gave San Jose State the ball down two with 13.6 seconds left, and Miles called timeout with a decision to make: Adhere to the adage of playing for the tie at home, or attempt a 3 for the win.
They went for the former, running a screen and roll that the Aztecs bungled, leaving Trey Anderson open alone under the basket. Cardenas found him. Anderson went to shoot and force overtime …
And Pal flew in from behind to swat it off the glass.
“A huge play,” LeDee said, “a game-winning play.”
Lamont Butler was fouled with 2.4 seconds, made the first free to make a three-point game, then missed the second. But Diogo Seixas’ full-court heave was wide left, and the Aztecs had escaped what would have been their worst loss in many, many moons.
These are the types of games that SDSU has handled with aplomb over the years. The NET metric separates opponents in four quadrants (Quad 1 is the best),
and this was a Quad 3 game. And the Aztecs had won 48 straight Quad 3 or 4 games.
It’s 49 straight because the Spartans had no one who could handle LeDee and because Pal had maybe his best game as an Aztec.
LeDee joined Kansas 7-footer Hunter Dickinson as the only players in Division I with multiple games of at least 30 points and 10 rebounds (they each have two). Since 1996-97, eight Aztecs players have accomplished it; LeDee and future NBA draft pick Jamaal Franklin are the only ones to do it more than once.
Three days earlier, bruising Boise State post O’Mar Stanley torched the Spartans for 28 points and 11 rebounds. Aztecs coaches showed LeDee video clips Tuesday morning.
“I had that in the back of my mind,” LeDee said. “We saw they might be a little smaller and less experienced in the interior, so we just took advantage of it.”
Added Dutcher: “He’s hard on anybody. We knew we had that matchup, and we went to it time and time again to try to get him the ball.”
Pal had the game’s most spectacular play, a flying tip dunk in traffic from an awkward angle in the first half. He also drained a big 3 from the left side with 2:42 left that finally gave the Aztecs the slightest bit of breathing room, finishing with 10 points, nine rebounds and two blocks.
The Aztecs had a 38-24 advantage in points in the paint and 18-9 on second-chance points, but the Spartans (7-9, 0-3) compensated with four starters in double figures, including a combined 41 points from the starting backcourt of Cardenas and MJ Amey. They also hit their Mountain West-leading average of nine 3s, including one by Tibet Gorener that banked in from 28 feet at the shot-clock buzzer.
The game featured 15 lead changes and 14 ties. SDSU never led by more than five in the second half.
“This was a good team we played,” Dutcher said. “People won’t want to believe that. They’ll just think I’m just trying to selfpromote my team. But no, San Jose State was good. We had to play really well tonight to win this.”
Notable
Reese Waters (seven points) returned to the starting lineup after coming off the bench Saturday against UNLV, having missed the previous two practices (and the second half of the Fresno State game) with a sprained ankle. Darrion Trammell went back to the bench and had a quiet night, failing to score.
Butler added 16 points on 6of-10 shooting. Micah Parrish had 13 and the Aztecs were a team-high plus-eight points with him on the floor.