The San Diego State men’s basketball team came up short to the Nevada Wolf Pack, losing 70-66 in overtime at Lawlor Events Center.
Forward Jaedon LeDee scored 20 points and hauled in seven rebounds. Guard Darrion Trammell chipped in 11 points and four assists.
The Wolf Pack jumped out to an early 6-0 lead in the first few minutes of the contest.
Then guard Lamont Butler knocked down a 3-pointer at the top of the key to put the Aztecs on the board.
The first half was plagued with miscues as SDSU (18-6, 7-4 Mountain West) committed two traveling violations and shot two airballs.
Late in the half, as LeDee cleared the boards, he inadvertently hit Wolf Pack guard Kenan Blackshear in the face.
LeDee avoided a flagrant foul after an officials’ review.
The Wolf Pack (19-5, 6-4) neutralized LeDee by doubling him when he caught the basketball in the post. LeDee had 7 points on just two shots through 20 minutes of play.
LeDee spoke about the double teams that he faced throughout the contest.
“I’ve got to slow down,” LeDee said. “I’ve got a lot of room to improve. I’ve got to get better.”
Inside a minute left in the first half, guard Reese Waters knocked down a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer as Nevada continued to stay in front of SDSU, 28-27.
Wolf Pack guard Tyler Rolison answered with a bucket of his own to push the Wolf Pack’s lead back to three.
Senior guard Micah Parrish had a chance to tie the game before halftime but his 3-pointer was off the mark.
The Wolf Pack were 17-0 heading into the game when leading at the break.
In the second half, LeDee immediately scored on an isolation play that resulted in him knocking down a midrange jumper.
Midway through the second half, Waters rejected LeDee’s screen, drove baseline and scored a layup to stay within two.
Then, Aztecs found themselves in trouble when Butler and LeDee each picked up their fourth personal foul within a three-minute span.
The Aztecs tied the score multiple times, but the Wolf Pack answered each time to keep the Aztecs from taking the lead.
Within four minutes to play, Trammell located senior forward Pal in the paint and Pal was fouled as he scored to tie the game at 52 a-piece.
Pal converted the and-one to hand SDSU its first lead of the night. Then with under two minutes remaining, Trammell drilled a pull-up jumper to extend the Aztecs’ lead to three.
On the ensuing possession, Butler fouled out of the game and both teams exchanged a pair of made free throws to keep the margin at three.
Following a timeout, the Wolf Pack returned to the free throw line and guard Jarod Lucas hit two free throws to trim the Aztecs’ lead back to one.
LeDee split a pair of free throws after he was fouled in the front court.
On the other end, Blackshear missed a jumper but forward Nick Davidson flew in for the putback, tied the game and was fouled. He missed the ensuing free throw and Waters snagged the rebound as SDSU called a timeout.
After the timeout, Trammell raced up the front court, and struggled to shake off his defender and the Aztecs could not get a shot off at the end of regulation.
Head coach Brian Dutcher addressed the final play of regulation.
“We tried to set a screen for (Trammell) and let him get downhill,” Dutcher said. “He’s got to draw a foul or make a basket. That’s basketball.”
In overtime, LeDee scored two baskets to hand SDSU a four-point advantage. But Blackshear scored back-to-back layups to even the score at 64 a-piece.
Nevada forward Tre Coleman scored the go-ahead layup with 12 seconds to play and SDSU burned their final timeout.
Out of the timeout, Trammell hoisted up a 3-pointer for the win but the shot hit the front of the rim. Parrish fouled Blackshear on the rebound and Blackshear hit two free throws to seal the Aztecs’ fate.
Parrish finished with a near double-double, scoring 9 points and led the Aztecs with 10 rebounds.
The Wolf Pack had three starters finish in double-digit scoring, including a game-high 22 points from Blackshear.
Dutcher credited Blackshear for his performance in figuring out the Aztecs’ defense.
“Blackshear is an elite guard,” Dutcher said. “We caused him to miss a few down the stretch which we had to do but we didn’t secure the rebound in order to preserve the win.”
The Aztecs will look to jump back into the win column next Tuesday, when they face off against Colorado State at 6 p.m. on Feb. 13 at Viejas Arena.
