In its loss last week against the University of Oregon, the San Diego State men’s basketball team was unable to accomplish two important elements integral to its success this season.
1. The Aztecs (2-1) were unable to get the ball inside to center Tye Fields.
2. They weren’t getting back on defense.
So, going into the game Friday against Eastern Washington University at the San Diego Sports Arena, SDSU clearly had those two objectives on its mind. The Aztecs went inside to Fields early and often, got back on defense and proceeded to defeat the Eagles by a score of 80-55 in front of 1,279 fans.
SDSU had an agenda on this night, and it was to get the ball down low to the 6-foot-8 junior college transfer, Fields. The Aztecs wasted little time exhibiting their game plan to Eastern Washington.
On the third offensive set of the game, SDSU dumped the ball to Fields and set the tone for the rest of the game when Fields went up strong, got fouled and went to the line for two.
“We wanted to go down low to Fields in this game right from the onset,” Aztecs head coach Fred Trenkle said, “simply because we hadn’t been going to him as much as I would have wanted, and in Oregon we weren’t able to go to him because he picked up two early fouls.”
SDSU continued to execute its strategy of going down low against the Eagles. In a span of 2:52 seconds, Fields got the ball on five out of six possessions.
The result was nine points by the Aztec center, en route to a season-high 19 points and eight rebounds, with only a three-pointer by Chad Nelson spliced in between.
“I was just able to play my game tonight and use my strength inside against them,” Fields said.
“With me inside and playing well tonight, the defenders come at me and it opens it up outside for Chad and Jason.”
The high-scoring duo came into the game against Eastern Washington averaging a combined 35 points, or 42 percent of SDSU points.
Richey, who came into the game averaging 22.5 points per game, ended the night with 12 points, six assists and four rebounds.
Nelson rebounded from a 1-for-8 shooting performance in his last game against Oregon, going for 15 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals, on 5-for-7 shooting.
The hot shooting wasn’t limited to just Fields, Nelson and Richey, as SDSU scorched the nets for an even 50-percent shooting. In the process, the Aztecs held the Eagles to 39 percent.
In SDSU’s two victories this season, both of which occurred at the Sports Arena, they have shot at least 50 percent, and in their lone loss, they shot just 36 percent from the field.
“It was a good team effort tonight, but what won the game for us was holding them to just 55 points,” Trenkle said. “We came ready to play tonight, and in every area of the game we were solid.”
One area in which the Aztecs were solid and improved was their rebounding. In the first two games of this season, SDSU had been out-rebounded, but that trend came to a screeching hault in this game as the Aztecs dominated the boards against the Eagles, 41-27.
“Our defensive intensity tonight was just a lot better than our last game against Oregon,” Nelson said. “We just executed and contained them real well.”
SDSU, however, won’t have much time to celebrate its win as it continues its stretch of six games that alternate between the Sports Arena and the road. The journey begins Tuesday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m., when it takes on Northwestern.
