The San Diego State men’s basketball team won its 20th game of the season for the eighth straight year after another dominant performance at Viejas Arena last Saturday afternoon. The Aztecs defeated the University of Nevada, Reno for the second time this season by a final score of 88-75.
Nevada senior guard Malik Story was the focal point of the Wolf Pack’s offense, leading all scorers with 33 points. Story went 7-of-13 from the three-point line, a few even falling from NBA range.
“He caught on fire and everything he threw up, he was going to make,” junior guard Jamaal Franklin, who guarded Story most of the game, said. “We played good defense. A couple times we had a couple of shots, but I would say most of his shots were contested and he was just making it.”
The Aztecs, however, led a much more balanced attack with six players reaching double figures. Franklin led the Aztecs with 23 points, 12 rebounds and five assists. Senior guard Chase Tapley added 17 points after being recognized before the game for moving into fifth place on the Aztec’s all-time scoring list and becoming the third Aztec in program history to play in 100 wins.
Both teams started off strong, trading baskets on nearly every early possession. The Aztecs began by hitting their first eight field goal attempts, while the Wolf Pack hit th
eir first five, including two three-pointers.
Not to be outdone from downtown, the Aztecs continued their good shooting, going 5-of-7 from the three-point line in the first 10 minutes of the game.
The Wolf Pack switched to a zone defense to try to remedy the Aztec’s hot hands, but ended up allowing junior guard Xavier Thames and freshman forward Winston Shepard to contribute from behind the arc as well. Shepard finished with 14 points, including three 3-pointers, and Thames finished with 10 points.
“Winston’s going to be a really good player,” SDSU’s head coach Steve Fisher said. “He’s had some moments where he’s looked like a young guy, but he’s slowly getting the peaks and valleys out of his game and becoming more consistent. Tonight, he had a pretty good stat line too.”
The Aztec defense got progressively tighter as the half concluded and went into the locker room with a halftime lead of 46-32 on 59.4 percent shooting from the field and 53.8 percent shooting from three-point land.
Sophomore forward JJ O’Brien started the second half strong, scoring the first six points for the Aztecs before assisting Tapley with his third triple of the game. O’Brien finished with 14 points and seven assists.
The Aztecs held a 22-point lead, their biggest lead of the game, as Franklin picked off a Wolf Pack pass and took it the other way for an alley-oop by senior forward DeShawn Stephens. Stephens finished with 10 points on five-of-five shooting.
SDSU shot 58.2 percent from the field and finished with a season-high 22 assists.
Freshman forward Skylar Spencer made Mountain West history Saturday by becoming the all-time leader in blocks by a freshman with 45.
“I didn’t realize that he had as many as he did until people started talking about it. He’s got a knack,” Fisher said.
Senior guard James Rahon is still suffering from a shoulder sprain and did not play.
The Aztecs travel to Albuquerque, N.M. on Wednesday to face the MW’s top-ranked team, University of New Mexico.
