San Diego State had just taken its biggest lead of the game against USD, 55-46.

SDSU senior forward Mohamed Abukar ran down the court, motioning his hands for a timeout to the Toreros’ bench.

After USD took his advice, the big man stalked off the floor, staring down the Toreros as he made his way to the Aztec bench.

The student section started a “USD sucks, USD sucks,” chant.

This is what the crowd of 9,075 at Cox Arena paid to see. This was the kind of game the Aztecs had to have.

Most of SDSU’s early season contests lacked the extra intensity that this game had in spades. Not that the players weren’t playing hard, but there was no, “We hate them, they hate us,” attitude.

Not last night. USD played desperate. It didn’t have a win against an NCAA Division I team, but the crosstown school certainly wanted to make the Aztecs its first victim.

The 79-76 SDSU victory had what the first seven games lacked: intensity.

The Toreros got into the Aztecs on defense. They pushed, clawed and hounded on every play, and it showed.

Even when SDSU made a run, USD answered. The Toreros seemed to play harder than any of the Aztecs’ first seven opponents.

In a year when anything short of an NCAA Tournament bid would be a disappointment, SDSU is going to be in a lot of close games. So far, the team has played in five contests decided by fewer than four points. It’s going to be like that in Mountain West Conference play, too.

In the MWC, every team is going to go to war with the Aztecs.

Just like USD did last night.

Torero guard Ross DeRogatis chased SDSU star Brandon Heath around the floor. He should have been asked to pay rent because he was living on Heath’s hip.

The defense, the bone-jarring screens and the raucous crowd all combined to give the feel of an NCAA Tourney game.

When sophomore guard Lorrenzo Wade stole the ball after USD crawled to within three points, the crowd got to its feet.

When Heath’s jumper with 28 seconds remaining bounced for a moment and then fell in, you couldn’t hear a cannon go off.

To their credit, the Toreros hung in there. The game went back and forth down the line. SDSU needed four huge free throws from Heath to ice the game.

Say what you will about this game being too close. A blowout last night would have accomplished nothing.

But for a team that’s going to receive everyone’s best shot, trading blows with USD should pay off.

-Devin Kunysz is a marketing junior and sports editor of The Daily Aztec.

-This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Daily Aztec.