SAN JOSE – Maybe what they should do is politely ask the officials and the other team if they could just start the game down 15 on the scoreboard. Or 21. Or 17. Or some ridiculous amount.
That way, they could save everyone the trouble of shielding their eyes and setting back basketball 50 years before deciding, oh, hey, maybe it’s time to start playing like they can.
San Diego State did it AGAIN.
Fell waaaaay behind against a bottom-tier Mountain West team AGAIN. Came from waaaaay back AGAIN. Won a game it probably shouldn’t have AGAIN. Kept alive its teetering NCAA Tournament hopes AGAIN.
The only difference in the script was that the Aztecs trailed San Jose State by 17 in the first half and used a 17-0 run to win 69-66. And this time, the Spartans were without their top two scorers.
Otherwise, same deal. Two weeks ago at Viejas Arena, they trailed the Spartans by 21 in the first half and 16 midway through the second, roaring back with an 18-0 run to win by, yes, three.
You thought, no way in a million years that could happen again. Then four days later, the Aztecs needed a 20-0 run to beat Wyoming. Now, down 17 at intermission against the Spartans, a 17-0 run to open the second half and another improbable three-point victory.
“We’re finding a way and keep plugging along,” coach Brian Dutcher said. “I’ve said it since day one, since the UCLA scrimmage when we got down: This is a gritty team. We’ve had an 18-0 run, a 20-0 run, a 17-0 run already this year. I can’t believe any Aztecs team has ever had those runs in the same year.
“Maybe one a year or one every three years, but within four games?”
It was a can’t-lose affair in of their at-large NCAA resume, which merely sets up another one Saturday night at Viejas Arena against a surging Boise State team bent on moving ahead of them in the eyes of the selection committee. SDSU, Colorado State and Boise State are now tied for third place in the Mountain West at 9-4.
“San Diego State basketball, everybody comes out and gives us their best shot,” point guard Nick Boyd said. “We’re a team that’s going through the highs and lows of it. Sometimes it takes us a second, you know, to get things together. Our confidence gets shaken.
“But we always find a way. That’s what I love about this team.”
In other words: It’s a team with heart, just not good for it.
Tuesday’s harrowing final 38 seconds:
The Aztecs (16-6) finally took their first lead midway through the second half but couldn’t get separation against the short-handed Spartans, ahead 66-62 when they coaxed a Spartans miss and grabbed the rebound – only for San Jose State’s Jermaine Washington to physically assault Jared Coleman-Jones and strip the ball without a call from official Amy Bonner standing just feet away.
Washington laid it in to cut the margin to two. Dutcher lost his mind on the far sideline.
The Aztecs ran down the shot clock, and Miles Byrd launched a deep 3. Wayne McKinney III, the shortest player on the floor, jumped for the rebound and drew a foul from Latrell Davis (in what cynical fans will label a makeup call by Bonner’s male counterparts).
That put McKinney on the line for a one-and-one with 8.8 seconds left, having missed the front end in a crucial moment in Saturday’s 68-63 loss at Colorado State. His first free throw clanged high off the back rim … hit the front rim … rolled around … and dropped.
He made the second for a 68-64 lead, only for the Spartans cut to two again. Nick Boyd was fouled with .5 seconds left, made the first, missed the second.
With no Aztecs players in the lane and the clock not starting until someone touched the ball, Davis purposely let the rebound bounce so he could position himself for a full-court heave.
It hit the backboard, hit the rim and bounded away.
Enormous exhale.
The Spartans (12-14, 5-9) were without leading scorer Josh Uduje, the Mountain West sixth man of the year at Utah State last season who is averaging 16.4 points and had 21 in the game at Viejas Arena. He had a back injury, and word leaked out early in the day that he wouldn’t play.
Then the Spartans came out for warmups, and UCLA transfer Will McClendon, their second leading scorer (12.0), was in street clothes as well. They suited up nine guys, and that included three who were averaging 2.2, 2.2 and 2.0 points.
Magoon Gwath won the opening tip, but Byrd slipped chasing it toward the sideline. An omen, it turned out.
The Spartans got the ball and promptly cut through the SDSU defense for a layup. On their next possession, center Robert Vaihola, who didn’t score (or even take a shot) in the game at Viejas, scored. Soon it was 12-6, then 22-13, then 34-19, then 37-20 at the half.
Aztecs stats: 6 of 27 shooting, 0 of 13 behind the 3-point arc, 12 turnovers, 11 second-chance points surrendered off offensive rebounds.
“We want to play to our standard always, that’s the culture here,” Boyd said. “But as a team, I think we begin to overthink some things in trying to be perfect instead of just going all out and having a good time and playing the game we all love at a high level.
“(At halftime), Coach told us he believes in us and it’s on us to dictate the second half and write our own story. We picked up the pressure. We kind of let them breathe in the first half.”
That was important for two reasons. One, it created turnovers (the Spartans had 16 that the Aztecs converted into 25 points). Two, it tired a team that had four starters log 35 or more minutes.
“We did an excellent job the first half,” San Jose State coach Tim Miles said, “and (then) obviously didn’t meet their aggression – our 17-point lead wiped out in four minutes, two timeouts. Then you’ve got an even game, and anything can happen. Too many times, we had turnovers that went for points for them. And we missed some free throws.”
Ah, free throws. That old Aztecs bugaboo.
In a role reversal from three nights earlier, the Aztecs weren’t the team lamenting them. They were 11 of 21 at Colorado State and lost by five. They were 17 of 22 against San Jose State and won by three.
The Spartans: 3 of 10.
“So they’re the team going into their locker room saying, ‘If we could have made three more free throws, we’d have won,’” Dutcher said. “We made our free throws, and that was a big part of our win.”
Boyd led the Aztecs with 17 points (7 of 9 at the line) to go with four assists and three steals. BJ Davis added 13 points and five rebounds. Byrd had nine points, including a big 3 late, after battling through a variety of minor leg and hand ailments. Coleman-Jones, back in the starting lineup, had nine points and eight rebounds. Gwath had seven points, four rebounds and four blocks.
Latrell Davis led the hosts with 21 points. Donovan Yap Jr. added 19, but no one else had more than seven. The Spartans shot 46.9% in the first half, 34.4% in the second. They had six turnovers in the first half, 10 in the second.
“That’s been when we play our best ball,” Boyd said after the Aztecs outscored the hosts 49-29 in the second half. “That’s a problem right now. We have to fix that and come out with that same intensity and energy from the jump. It’s important if we want to have a great March.”
Notable
The team will fly home Wednesday and have the day off, then begin preparations for Boise State … SDSU dropped one spot to 50th in the Kenpom metric despite the win, swapping spots with UC San Diego, which is now 49th … The Aztecs shot 4 of 10 on 3s in the second half to finish 4 of 23 … SDSU had the edge in all the specialty categories: points from turnovers (25-16), in the paint (38-38), off offensive rebounds (20-16), on fast breaks (17-6) and from the bench (14-10). San Jose State compensated by making seven more 3s … The officiating crew: Bonner, Kevin Brill and Michael Irving.
