Last year, the San Diego State men’s basketball team was unstoppable in the Mountain West Conference Tournament.
As a No. 4 seed, SDSU went undefeated en route to winning the conference tournament with a 55-45 win on UNLV’s home court.
“In the Mountain West (Championship), we were just playing together as a team, playing San Diego State basketball,” senior forward Billy White said. “This year we want to go farther than that. Of course we want to win another banner. It’s just making us push harder, knowing we can do it. If we can play as a team, we’re going to be hard to stop.”
But on a night dedicated to unveiling their 2010 MWC Tournament championship banner, the Aztecs didn’t perform as reigning champs, or even a top-25 team.
SDSU struggled defensively against the Hawks, giving up 10 3-pointers and allowing San Diego Christian to shoot 42 percent from the field.
“You have to have an edge about you and I thought that came and went tonight,” head coach Steve Fisher said. “There is not much difference between making a play defensively and giving up a basket … There were too many times where we looked like we were going to make a play and we didn’t.”
But when the final buzzer sounded on Friday, the No. 18 Aztecs were still unbeaten after cruising to an 88-69 win against SDCC in front of 5,674 fans at Viejas Arena.
SDSU used a balanced attack against the Hawks. All 11 players notched points on the scoreboard, with a pair of sophomores leading the offense. Forward Kawhi Leonard and guard Chase Tapley each scored 14 points, while White was in double figures with 10 points.
“As a team we wanted to give everybody an opportunity to play equal minutes,” senior guard D.J. Gay said. “Some players haven’t played as much as others on the team, so we felt tonight would be a good chance to get others involved that we are going to need down the road for big games.”
SDCC was able to keep it close for most of the first half, getting the score to 23-22 with 7:19 left. But the Aztecs put their foot on the gas from there and held a 10-point advantage at halftime.
SDSU was a completely different team in the second half, connecting on 13 of its first 15 attempts and shooting 65.5 percent for the period.
Meanwhile, the Hawks kept finding success from long range, but were outscored in the paint by a 32-8 margin in the second half alone.
The Aztecs may have picked up the win, but they aren’t acting like it. With a crucial matchup against Saint Mary’s at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday at Viejas Arena, the team knows it needs to step up its game.
“We won’t beat Saint Mary’s if we play the way we did (last Friday),” Gay said. “The energy will be there on Wednesday. There will be no underestimating or overlooking our opponent or anything of that nature. They’re a very good team and that’s something that we are all looking forward to.”
