The last time SDSU had a chance to win at the buzzer, they were unable to cash in on the opportunity. Wednesday night at Clune Arena provided the Aztecs a second chance to snag a victory as time expired.
The Aztecs (12-5, 5-3 MW) were down to the Air Force Falcons (3-16, 0-8 MW) 76-75 with about four ticks left on the game clock in overtime. The ball was inbounded to senior guard Wayne McKinney III and his agility and speed took over. McKinney III maneuvered almost the full length of the court in order to narrowly drop a game-winning layup to beat the buzzer, notching a fifth Mountain West win for his team.
As the season begins to wind down, McKinney III knew how much escaping Colorado Springs with a win was.
“This game was our season,” McKinney III commented postgame. “From here on out, we have to do our best to get wins and just rank up… We also have to make sure we’re just competing, finishing solidly and giving ourselves a chance to win the Mountain West conference.”
Keeping the intensity up was a slight challenge for the Aztecs as the night went on. Head coach Brian Dutcher saw boxing out as a main emphasis for his team.
“We work on our free throw box-outs; we talk about them. They got three offensive rebounds on missed free throws because we weren’t stepping them up hard and aggressive and physical. There’s always lessons to be learned.”
Despite a short lapse in discipline, SDSU was able to keep their undefeated overtime record intact, moving to 2-0 on the season.
Besides the poise and near-perfection of McKinney III, a fantastic all-around effort of freshman Magoon Gwath proved vital for the Aztecs. Gwath almost tallied his second double-double of the season with nine points and seven rebounds in a season-high 32 minutes of play. He also added two blocks and a steal.
The Scarlet and Black played fantastic defense on the opposing Falcons throughout the course of the game. The Aztecs forced 17 turnovers, almost three times more than the six forced by Air Force. Sophomore Miles Byrd led his team in steals with four.
Byrd unfortunately fouled out late in the second half and was half of the missing pieces in the extra period for the Aztecs. The other half was senior Nick Boyd, who fouled out before Byrd in the second half.
A key trend in Wednesday night’s game was how many times the whistle was blown. There were 55 fouls between the Aztecs and Falcons, leading to an astonishing 71 free throws attempted.
Free throws contributed to much of the Aztecs’ pain as Air Force made 30 of their 44 attempts and also took the lead late in overtime on a missed free throw tip-in by sophomore Wesley Celichowski.
Celichowski was a burden for the Aztecs all night as he led the Falcons in scoring with 22 points. The seven-foot center was at the forefront of coach Dutcher’s mind throughout the contest.
“Get off his body and front him,” was the advice from SDSU’s ring leader. “Don’t get in a wrestling match with him and think you’ve done your job when he catches it.”
When the Aztecs were able to halt the Falcons’ big man down low, the alternate spark plug was senior guard Ethan Taylor. He poured 21 points on the Aztecs along with eight rebounds.
While Air Force’s starters led their charge, the Aztecs’ bench was the real star of the show. In total, SDSU’s bench dropped 34 points, spearheaded by McKinney’s 18 points. Freshman Taj DeGourville refused to be outshined by his senior counterpart, contributing with 11 points on 5-9 shooting.
The bench also steadied the Aztecs’ overtime attack. DeGourville made a clutch go-ahead jump shot with 1:36 left in the extra period, putting SDSU up 75-73. McKinney also made various clutch free throws and of course his masterful buzzer-beating layup.
The Aztecs will continue their Mountain West title pursuit on the road against the Nevada Wolf Pack on Jan. 25 at 7:00 p.m.
