The San Diego State men’s basketball team remembered the pain and disappointment of losing 77-67 to the University of New Mexico Lobos in Viejas Arena last season.
The Aztecs remembered the sting and frustration of losing to the Lobos 68-59 for a second consecutive time in the championship game of the Mountain West Conference championship game in Las Vegas, and seeing Lobos head coach Steve Alford with the net hanging around his neck and the championship trophy in front of him.
SDSU (16-4, 4-2 Mountain West) made sure the Lobos didn’t leave Viejas Arena with a third straight victory against the Aztecs, defeating New Mexico 55-34 to jump within a half-game of first place in the MW standings.
Sophomore forward JJ O’Brien scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season, as the Aztecs (16-4, 4-2 Mountain West) dealt New Mexico (17-3, 4-1 MW) its first conference loss of the season and halted the Lobos’ four-game winning streak. New Mexico’s 34 points were its lowest in the shot-clock era.
“It started with how we chased their guards around,” SDSU head coach Steve Fisher said. “We gave them no clean looks. I was concerned about their size with the two big kids inside. We did a pretty good job of forcing them away from the basket and not letting them just pitch over us. We stood our ground when they tried to back us in.”
The Aztecs jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead in the first minute of the game courtesy of a three-pointer by junior guard Jamaal Franklin and a floater by senior guard James Rahon, who got the start in place of junior guard Xavier Thames.
Leading 7-6 about five minutes into the game, SDSU used a 14-3 run to jump out to a 21-9 lead, sparked by five consecutive points by freshman forward Winston Shepard. To end the half, the Aztecs used an 8-0 run to go into the locker room up 33-19.
Franklin led the Aztecs at halftime with eight points and three assists, while O’Brien had six points and six rebounds at half.
Early in the second half, the Aztecs used a 10-2 run to gain a 43-24 advantage and the victory was all but sealed, as SDSU cruised to a 55-34 victory.
“It’s exciting,” Franklin said. “We needed that one. It was a really big win and New Mexico is a really good team. As you know, we had lost two games in a row (prior to the win at Nevada on Wednesday) and we lost one to UNLV (at home). Like Coach Fisher always stresses, you can’t win this league if you don’t win home games. I feel like that was a big home game win.”
O’Brien’s double-double was the third of his career, with the first two coming when he played for the University of Utah.
“I just wanted to play hard,” O’Brien said. “I had a couple of bad games in a row and I wanted to come back hard on rebounds. You can control your rebounds and how hard you are on the glass. I just wanted to work on the rebounds and that pretty much opened the rest of my game up.”
Notes
– The Aztecs forced 17 turnovers, their most since the 18 they forced against Indiana State University earlier this season.
– SDSU had 15 more rebounds than UNM, the second-largest margin against an opponent this season. Its season-best was 18 against Missouri State this season.
– Franklin recorded his seventh consecutive double-digit scoring game.
– Senior guard Chase Tapley started the 100th game of his career. He is the eighth Aztec in history with 100 or more starts.
– Freshman forward Skylar Spencer has made his last nine shots from the field.
– SDSU has won three consecutive games against The Associated Press Top 25 teams dating back to the 2008-09 season.
– The Aztecs have held their opponents to less than 20 points in three straight halves (second half against Nevada and both halves against New Mexico) and four of the past six halves (first half against Wyoming).
