Active hands, quick rotations, smothering contests and grit was more than prominent from the Aztecs defense. It’s what the Aztecs are built on, and after narrowly escaping the 3-17 Air Force Falcons last game following a home loss to UNLV, they needed a convincing, hard-fought victory- and that’s exactly what they got.
The Aztecs (13-5) move to 6-3 in Mountain West Conference play as they defeat the Nevada Wolfpack (11-9, 3-6 MW) 69-50 on the road. Magoon Gwath led the charge for the Aztecs, scoring 15 points on a perfect 7-7 shooting while securing a career-high 13 rebounds and two blocks.
“That’s just a young guy not losing concentration trying to play hard every minute he’s out there and he’s making strides in the right direction,” said Head Coach Brian Dutcher about Gwath in a post-game interview with San Diego Sports 760.
Gwath was phenomenal on both ends for the Aztecs but it was a strong team effort that contributed to their dominance.
Despite a quiet scoring night for Miles Byrd, his versatility stood out with a career-high nine assists while being a pest on the defensive end with three steals. Taj Degourville scored 14 points on four threes off the bench while the bench bigs Miles Heide and Pharaoh Compton established a heavy inside presence with Heide securing six rebounds and Compton scoring six points.
“Coming off of our last three games, we were playing a little lower than our expectations so I feel like this game is a good statement game for the team,” said Gwath.
It was an uphill battle early in the first half for the Aztecs as they went on a seven minute scoring drought in the midst of an 11-0 Nevada run. The momentum quickly switched as the Aztecs went on a 13-0 run of their own that was capped off by a Gwath three and a Byrd steal and slam just seconds after. Although the Aztecs led at half 28-21, they still had much more work to do on the offensive end with seven turnovers and poor shot selection.
The Aztecs’ drastically improved their offensive movement in the second half, cutting their turnovers to just three while finishing the game with 21 team assists. They were also very efficient, shooting 55% from the field and 42% from three in the half.
“We’re based on defense and then when the offense plays like it does, then we have the margins like this,” says Dutcher. “We have to continue to guard at a high level and then just move the ball, share the ball and play the right way.”
Nevada’s offense struggled mightily this game especially from distance shooting a putrid 19% from three. Standout Nevada big Nick Davidson was averaging 15.8 points a game heading into the contest but shot just 1-9 from the field scoring only six points. Points in the paint was a big discrepancy between the two teams as the Aztecs scored 36 to Nevada’s 12.
The Wolf pack have struggled in conference play but had lost by very small margins heading into the match, including an overtime loss to New Mexico on a buzzer-beating game winner.
After making the NCAA tournament the last two years, the Wolfpack’s chances to make it back to the big dance through an at-large bid are slimming rapidly.
As for the Aztecs, they will head home coming off of two straight road wins to play San Jose State on Tuesday, Jan. 28
