After playing a tough game three days ago against the University of San Diego, the University of Washington Huskies made it known early that they came to challenge the Associated Press No. 24 San Diego State men’s basketball team.
Despite trailing 30-21 at halftime, the Aztecs escaped with a victory once again to defeat the Huskies 70-63 led by their “X-factor,” senior guard Xavier Thames.
“We didn’t start off good in the first half, we played good defense but we didn’t make easy shots,” Thames said. “We missed a few layups and we all missed a few shots, but we didn’t hang our heads. We talked about it at the half to start off strong and that’s what we did.”
Early in this contest, SDSU looked tired as if the USD game gave them all they had. They shot a poor 27.6 percent as a team against Washington’s 42.9 percent in the first half. The Huskies looked in control of this game leading by as much as 10 points with 2:02 left to play in the first half.
But a second half surge changed all of that quickly. The Aztecs looked like the nationally ranked team that they are when they exploded onto a 17-2 run to open the second. Leading 38-32 with 14:14 to play, Washington called their second timeout hoping to slow down the momentum of the Aztecs, but it was too late.
Scoring just 5 points in the first half, Thames added 14 in the second to finish with a game high 19 points, along with six assists. Sophomore guard Winston Shepard attacked the rim throughout this game adding 17 of his own, knocking down 8-10 from the free throw line.
It was senior guard C.J Wilcox who scored 17 points and freshman guard Nigel Williams-Goss who added 14 to lead the Huskies.
“I try not to get caught up in the extra stuff, but I didn’t want to lose to Nigel (Williams-Goss),” Shepard said on his former high school teammate. “We played high school ball and AAU ball together…I never want to lose to any of my former teammates.”
Head coach Steve Fisher couldn’t be more proud of his team’s comeback performance.
“It’s a great way for us going into the finals to beat a PAC-12 team, moving to only one loss,” Fisher said. “I think we earned it, our players worked very hard…the nice thing too is that we have a lot of room to grow as a basketball team so I think we’ll get better.”
With a 10-day break, SDSU will next welcome Southern Utah University to Viejas Arena on Dec. 18. After winning two tough games this week, it’s safe to say the Aztecs will remain in the AP rankings for a second consecutive week.
Photo by Jordan Owen, Senior Staff Photographer
