On Jan. 26, the Utah State Aggies (15-12, 6-8 Mountain West Conference) welcomed the San Diego State Aztecs (16-6, 7-3 MWC) to Logan, Utah with a stunning 18-point beating.
Clearly, the Aztecs hadn’t forgotten about that moving into their game on the Aggies on Tuesday, Feb. 15.
“This game we’re (the team) looking forward to,” senior guard Matt Bradley told goaztecs.com. “We had it marked on our whiteboard that this is the game with the score posted on it from the last one.”
Playing at Viejas Arena, SDSU made sure to give USU some payback with a 75-56 victory, netting the Aztecs their fourth straight victory and fifth win in six games.
The Scarlet and Black now sit comfortably at fourth place in the Mountain West Conference. Normally, a team wouldn’t brag about sitting in fourth place since everyone wants the glistening top seed in the conference.
However, the top five teams in the Mountain West will get a day off in the Mountain West Basketball Championships in March. In a hypothetical situation, the Aztecs would be one of those teams to receive an off day should the standings remain the same.
To make it far in the Championships, they’ll need Bradley to continue his torrent streak of shooting. The senior guard posted 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting and sank four of his six 3-point shots.
His shooting helped SDSU drop 42 first-half points as opposed to USU’s 34. The teams played basketball hot potato with the lead for the first fifteen minutes of the game.
In the final five minutes of the half, the Aztecs began to pull further and further away from the Aggies, leading by eight by the buzzer.
Then, the second half commenced.
To say the Aztecs came out with guns ablazing is a vast understatement. The Scarlet and Black outscored the Aggies 33-22 and sank three 3-pointers as opposed to USU’s one. The defense, meanwhile, suffocated USU shooters to just 34.48 percent, a 13% drop from the first half.
It also helped that head coach Brian Dutcher got some unexpected help from two players: senior Aguek Arop and junior Keshad Johnson.
Known more for his dazzling dunks, Johnson has now scored double-digit points with his 14 points against the Aggies while providing valuable defense on the other side of the court.
Arop — who has battled through multiple injuries that have piled up throughout the season with gladiator-esque endurance — snapped up five rebounds with eight points in 16 minutes.
Yes, that doesn’t sound like a lot in the context of a box score. But with the Aggies pushing the Aztecs around for offensive rebounds, Arop’s tenacity proved instrumental in pushing back.
Viejas Arena giving him a standing ovation after a second-half offensive rebound proved it: SDSU needed him.
“Coming out in the second half, Utah State was grabbing offensive rebounds left and right. I think he really saved us,” Bradley said to goaztecs.com. “He wasn’t gonna allow them to just keep pumping us on the glass. He grabbed like two or three big offensive rebounds and I think the last one he grabbed he definitely got a standing ovation. That was well deserved. He is a beast whenever he’s available.”
After brushing aside the Aggies and relishing in their revenge, SDSU will be facing a skidding Fresno State squad (16-9, 6-6 MWC) that has lost three straight matches in a row.
