The San Diego State men’s basketball team allows the least amount of points per game (67.3) and lowest field goal percentage (40.7) to their opponents among Mountain West teams.
However, it was Colorado State’s defense that was suffocating on Tuesday night, forcing the Aztecs (16-5, 5-3 Mountain West) into an uncharacteristic 15 turnovers as they fell to the Rams 79-71 at Moby Arena.
“They did enough to win and 15 turnovers is too many,” said head coach Brian Dutcher.
The Rams (16-5, 4-4) came out of the gates scorching hot on both ends of the floor, knocking down three 3’s and forcing two turnovers en route to a 13-2 run to start the game.
Guard Nique Clifford was an early bright spot for the Rams, hitting two 3’s in that stretch and wreaking havoc on both ends of the court on his way to a 20 point, 10 rebound, 5 assist and 4 steal performance.
The Aztecs responded as a Lamont Butler 3-pointer cut the lead to three points with 7:48 remaining in the first half, but every Aztec punch was countered by the Rams and CSU went into halftime leading 29-37.
There were many reasons for the Aztecs largest halftime deficit of the season, most notably were their season-high eight first half turnovers and Mountain West scoring leader Jaedon LeDee (20.9 PPG) being held to only two points.
LeDee had been dealing with a food poisoning issue all week, causing him to miss a few practices, but despite this, still seemed like his usual, high-energy self. His lack of scoring in the first half was more a result of the Rams’ stifling, physical defense.
The tune did not change much in the second as turnovers continued to plague the Aztecs. The very first play of the second half was an Aztec turnover, leading to two more points for the Rams.
SDSU was able to cut the lead to three points, but the resilient Rams countered again, stretching the lead out to 10 as guard Josiah Strong cut through the lane to score a layup and make it 51-41 with 13:49 to go.
Guard Miles Byrd provided a much needed spark off the bench in the second half, spearheading an electric sequence where he threw down a dunk and swatted two Rams layups within a minute.
The momentum carried into the next few possessions and with 7:31 to go the Aztecs took their first lead of the night, 61-60, on a Lamont Butler mid-range jump shot.
The Rams dialed up a play out of their timeout to get big man Patrick Cartier open for a layup to snatch the lead right back.
“They ran a play. It was the same play we ran, where they threw it into [Patrick] Cartier for a layup,” Dutcher said, “We ran the exact same play, and we threw it out of bounds. We turned it over. Same play. That’s the difference in the game.”
As hard as the Aztecs fought, they continuously shot themselves in the foot as the turnover problems persisted down the stretch.
LeDee reached the milestone of 1,000 career points, but was unable to match his usual production against the physical Colorado State defense.
Rams coach Niko Nedved credited their “toughness, rebounding and defense,” for helping them secure the win tonight.
Next, The Aztecs will look to maintain their undefeated home record this season at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday when they face off against the current Mountain West leaders, Utah State, at Viejas Arena.
