LAS VEGAS — Margins shrink come March, slimming even more when a game goes beyond regulation, so the San Diego State men’s basketball team’s eye-popping edge on the boards gave the Aztecs the needed extra juice in their 74-71 quarterfinal win in overtime.
Fifth-seeded SDSU (23-9) earned their 17th consecutive trip to the Mountain West Championship Semifinals thanks in large part to their dominance getting to the glass and out-rebounding UNLV 50-31. The Aztecs snatched a 25-9 edge in offensive rebounds, which they converted to a 20-8 second chance scoring advantage.
“That was the key we put on the board in the locker room and I thought it was the key to the game,” said head coach Brian Dutcher.
Jaedon LeDee led the charge, feasting to the tune of 16 boards (seven on offense), which made him the first Aztec since Josh Davis in 2013-14 with multiple 15-plus rebound games in a season.
It was a full team effort, with seven of the nine players that appeared for the Scarlet and Black grabbing multiple rebounds. Jay Pal had nine boards, while the starting guard trio of Micah Parrish (five rebounds, four on offense), Lamot Butler and Darrion Trammell combined for 11 caroms.
UNLV (19-12) was without one of their top rebounders in 6-foot-9 fifth-year forward Kalib Boone, who sustained an ankle injury in the Runnin’ Rebels’ regular season finale at Nevada. Despite dressing and attempting to play, he returned to the bench after just 59 seconds in the first half.
Boone’s presence was particularly missed on the offensive side, where he has the second-most offensive rebounds on the team. Guard Luis Rodriguez was the only Rebel to grab multiple second-chance boards, and was limited to only two.
“When (Kalib) Boone didn’t play, that was a huge momentum change.” Dutcher said. “He is their offensive rebounder. He is the rebounding problem.”
SDSU made that absence a major problem, as the Aztecs got seven more possessions and attempted 19 more shots.
The plus-19 margin tied their second largest edge against a Division I opponent for the Scarlet and Black this season. It flipped the minus-six differential from when the Aztecs dropped their final road game of the regular season to UNLV at the Thomas & Mack Center nine days prior.
Rebounding has always been one of the main margins that SDSU has won to power the years of success under Dutcher and Steve Fisher.
With top-seeded Utah State and the Mountain West coaches’ Player of the Year Great Osobor — the conference’s leading rebounder — waiting in the semis, the game on the glass will likely prove to be pivotal once again.
