The San Diego State men’s basketball team faltered late in a 74-65 loss to Brigham Young University at Marriott Center.
Senior forward Jaedon LeDee led all scorers with 21 points on 9-16 from the field. Junior guard Reese Waters scored 15 points while recording a pair of steals and blocks.
The Aztecs (1-1) got into the scoring column first with LeDee knocking down a face-up jumper.
The Aztecs led for the first 10 minutes of the first half. SDSU was clicking on both sides of the basketball as senior guard Lamont Butler connected on a pair of 3-pointers early to give the Aztecs a 10-6 lead.
The Aztecs’ defense forced four consecutive missed shots, including a blocked layup by LeDee coming from the weak side of the floor to keep the Cougars at bay. Senior guard Darrion Trammell also contributed to the defense, navigating through multiple on-ball screens on the perimeter and forcing the Cougars into tough shots.
The Cougars took their first lead of the game with 10:07 left in the first half off a made 3-pointer by guard Jaxson Robinson.
Trammell immediately answered with a contested side-step 3-pointer as the shot clock expired to give the Aztecs the lead right back.
Later in the first half, the Aztecs gave up a 10-0 run to the Cougars and found themselves down 29-20. With 2:53 left in the first half, LeDee connected on a pull-up jumpshot to finally end the Cougars’ scoring run.
During the Cougars’ scoring run, the Aztecs committed three turnovers and missed six consecutive shots.
Off a dribble handoff action with senior forward Jay Pal, LeDee drove down the lane and converted a layup to spark a 6-0 run with 2:19 left in the first half.
Next possession, LeDee followed his miss at the rim with a putback in traffic as three Cougar defenders surrounded him.
After getting a stop, Butler knocked down a pull-up jumper at the free throw line to finish off the 6-0 run.
Cougars forward Foussenyni Traore ended the first half with a layup to push BYU’s lead back up to five at halftime.
In the second half, the Scarlet and Black came out of the locker room with a 9-2 run.
Sophomore forward Elijah Saunders jumped the passing lane for a steal and dunk to cut the lead to one.
A few plays later, LeDee was doubled in the post. After a pair of passes, the ball found Waters for a wide-open corner three to tie the game at 35 a-piece.
Out of the media timeout, Saunders poked the ball free for another steal and slam, giving the Aztecs their first lead since the 7:27 mark of the first half. Saunders notched a game-high four steals.
With 12:13 left to go in the second half, Pal found Waters on a backdoor cut for a dunk that gave the Aztecs a 46-42 lead.
The Cougars responded with a 15-4 run to take a 7-point lead with 5:14 to play.
Senior guard Micah Parrish answered back with a catch-and-shoot three and banked in an elbow jumper to cut the lead to two, but it was all Cougars after that.
The Cougars (2-0) finished the game on a 17-10 run over the final 4:10 that included the team collecting ten points from the free throw line on 13 attempts.
During the run, the Aztecs were called for two traveling violations on back-to-back plays.
The Aztecs were out-rebounded (42-32), and the Cougars doubled on the Aztecs 10-5 on three-pointers made. Cougars guard Dallin Hall recorded 18 points off the bench with four three-pointers made.
Head coach Brian Dutcher credited BYU for making their 3-pointers.
“But 10 threes are too many to give BYU and they’re a really good shooting team,” Dutcher said. “That’s what they do at an elite level, but I think that only one was truly uncontested.”
The Aztecs will look to rebound against Long Beach State at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 14 at Viejas Arena.
