FORT COLLINS, Colo. – San Diego State’s basketball team walked into Moby Arena on Saturday night and saw Colorado State players wearing orange uniforms.
Then the students arrived. They were given orange T-shirts as their tickets were scanned.
Then the cheerleaders – all in orange.
Then the fans – more orange.
Correction: It’s technically pumpkin, not orange. Colorado State annually plays one game in its original colors of “pumpkin and alfalfa” (instead of its current green and gold) to honor its heritage as Colorado Agricultural College founded in 1870.
It’s a nice nod to history, just not so nice to the team in scarlet and black. SDSU’s three previous visits to Moby Arena during the “Orange Out” ended in agonizing losses by eight total points, one after a controversial late call and another after a controversial late non-call.
The fourth didn’t go much better. The Aztecs hung around against the orange menace but succumbed 68-63 after managing just one basket – like, one more than zero – over an 11-minute stretch in the second half against a team they beat by 15 last month at Viejas Arena.
The six straight missed free throws (and 5 of 13 in the second half) didn’t help, either. Nor did Colorado State’s 17 offensive rebounds.
“Tough place to play,” coach Brian Dutcher said. “We had to play better to win. We played hard enough but didn’t play well enough.”
Most NCAA Tournament bracketologists had the Aztecs clinging to one of the final at-large invitations. This loss won’t crush them – the Kenpom metric projected a one-point Aztecs win on the road – but it moves them perilously close to needing the Mountain West’s automatic berth by winning the conference tournament next month in Las Vegas.
There are still eight regular-season games remaining. Only two, however, offer real chances to gain ground: at second-place Utah State on Feb. 22 and home against first-place New Mexico three days later. The rest are potential landmines and, the way this team is playing right now, it’s hard to imagine it not stepping on at least one.
The loss also dropped the Aztecs (15-6, 8-4) into fifth place behind New Mexico (12-1), Utah State (11-2), Colorado State (9-3) and Boise State (9-4). And, for all practical purposes, out of the title race.
“It will be tough to catch New Mexico,” Dutcher conceded. “I can’t see them losing a lot.”
They came to Moby Arena a year ago for the 21st game of the season, promptly trailed 17-4, rallied to take the lead in the second half, then collapsed down the stretch and lost by eight.
This year: the 21st game of the season, missed their first seven shots, trailed 10-3, rallied to take the lead in the second half, then collapsed down the stretch and lost by five.
The Aztecs tweaked their defensive approach at halftime – easing the aggression, playing in gaps to deter drives and forcing contested perimeter shots – and went from allowed 50% shooting to 32% shooting.
They led 50-47 with 14:04 to go and Magoon Gwath (15 points, 10 rebounds, two blocks) heading to the line for an and-one free throw. It was a premonition of what was to come.
The Aztecs scored one point over the next seven minutes while missing six straight free throws – one by Miles Byrd, two by Pharaoh Compton, the front end of a one-and-one by Wayne McKinney III and two by Miles Heide. They went 11-plus minutes with only one basket, a 3 by McKinney.
“Sometimes, I think we get eager and we have so many ionate players on our team that we want to get that lead back,” said Jared Coleman-Jones, who returned to the lineup after missing two games with a shoulder injury. “That prompts some of the shots we take, that prompts some of the turnovers we have at critical moments.
“We just need to focus on playing mature and executing and letting our game speak for itself. We’re talented enough to do that.”
The Rams, meanwhile, were in the bonus with 11:14 to go and made 10 of the final 13 from the line.
Gwath, who made 7 of 10 shots, was the only SDSU player to score in double figures. The rest of the starting lineup shot a combined 7 of 29 (24.1%), including a 2 of 11 performance Byrd after he had 25 points in the season’s first meeting with the Rams.
Still, the Aztecs, by some miracle, got within three with just over a minute left and coaxed a pair of missed 3s … only to surrender a pair of offensive boards. Rashaan Mbemba was fouled after wrestling away the ball from several Aztecs, made both free throws with 49.1 seconds left, and that was that.
“Give those guys a ton of credit,” Colorado State forward Ethan Morton said. “They’ve kind of been the standard in this league for a long time. Coach (Niko Medved) did a great job. He told us: ‘To beat these guys, you have to beat them at their own game.’
“We knew it was going to be a rock fight. We were just trying to have a stronger will, and we were able to figure it out. … We were able to keep taking punches and then throw some of our own.”
Notable
The Aztecs will stay on the road, flying to the Bay Area on Sunday for Tuesday night’s game at San Jose State.
• Jared Coleman-Jones played after missing the last two games with a shoulder injury, but Miles Heide started for the third time. Coleman-Jones had eight points at halftime, including a pair of 3-pointers.
• One of the officials was Mike Littlewood, the BYU alum and former BYU baseball coach who drew the ire of Aztecs fans last season and gave coach Brian Dutcher his only technical foul in years … Magoon Gwath entered the game needing one block to tie Skylar Spencer’s freshman record of 51.
• Freshman Pharaoh Compton’s free throw drought continued. He has now missed 10 straight and hasn’t made one since Jan. 11 at New Mexico.
