By Edward Lewis, Sports Editor
Silence the critics. Answer the questions. Turn the doubters into believers.
The San Diego State men’s basketball team is officially the real deal.
SDSU went into the McCarthey Athletic Center in Spokane, Wash. last night and took down the No. 11 team in the nation, Gonzaga, 79-76. Senior forward Billy White scored a career-high 30 points on 14-of-18 shooting, sophomore forward Kawhi Leonard posted his 19th career double-double and the No. 25 Aztecs picked up arguably their biggest regular season victory in school history against the Zags in the O’Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic.
“We knew that we had to come in here and win and let everybody in the world know we can play with the best in the country,” White said to AM 600 KOGO after the game. “We had to come in here and get a win and that’s what we did.”
In the past two seasons, SDSU had lost its second game of the season. Last night, the Aztecs (2-0) did everything they could to avoid extending that streak to three.
Even with star senior forward Malcolm Thomas scoring zero points and Gonzaga guard Steven Gray notching a career-high 35 points, SDSU somehow willed itself to one of its best performances in program history.
The Aztecs jumped out to a 6-0 lead early in the first half. Then, Thomas went to the bench after he picked up a quick two fouls. Yet SDSU never trailed in the first 20 minutes, and headed into the locker room up 42-37.
In the second half, the Aztecs fought off an opening-half, 7-0 run by the Zags, and once they took the lead, 48-45, on a White 3-pointer with 16 and a half minutes left on the clock, they never looked back. SDSU pulled off the improbable and beat Gonzaga, which entered the game 77-4 in games played at the McCarthey Athletic Center since 2004.
“We’ve got a good basketball team,” head coach Steve Fisher said to AM 600 KOGO after the game. “We’ve got a long, athletic, smart, tough team that most importantly plays very hard and shares the basketball. They don’t get caught up in ‘I gotta get touches and I gotta get shots.’ They get caught up in the most important thing: ‘What can I do to help us win?'”
Sophomore transfer guard James Rahon continued to show he, like the team he plays for, is as advertised. He came off the bench, played 29 minutes and scored 12 points and notched four rebounds. Senior center Brian Carlwell came off the bench, filling in for the foul-plagued Thomas, and posted eight points and two boards in 14 minutes. And SDSU’s captain, D.J. Gay, played a team-high 38 minutes and was rock solid all night at the point.
“Coach said we were a better team,” White said. “They were a great team, they played hard, but only four people beat them in this house, and we’re the fifth team to beat them. We just stuck together and we came in here together and got a win.”
