The Aztecs took a big early step in their pursuit of a Mountain West regular season championship. Their victory Tuesday night was perhaps for the final time in Reno, Nevada. Against the Wolf Pack the 73-68 was a very big, but also very little win.
The game got off to a scolding hot start for Nevada as they climbed to a 14-2 lead just five minutes in. But if there’s one lesson the SDSU team and it’s fans must always remember that this game reminded us of—it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.
The story of the night is the depth of SDSU that powered them past UNR. It took five different SDSU players scoring in double-digits to put the Wolf Pack away when the final buzzer sounded. Those points came from unlikely sources even at this 14th game of the season.
The starters again got off to a slow start and it was the bench providing much of the early scoring. Behind Taj DeGourville, BJ Davis’ 10 points each on the night, Magoon Gwath contributed with 7 points as well all from the 2nd unit.
It was a refreshing performance especially for DeGourville who this year is averaging just about 4.8 pts per game and has had his frustrations. Against the tough & disciplined Wolf Pack defense, it seemed for stretches it was only Taj who had the mentality and ability to take it straight at UNR.
The SDSU scoring difference was 17-4 in favor of the bench already midway through the first half. What seems to be the constant factor is outside jumpers are not falling early, so the Aztecs 2nd unit has been focused to take it to the paint. Starters Reese Dixon-Waters and Miles Byrd each took long to minutes to score their first buckets but each finished the night with 10 and 14 points respectively.
SDSU outscored Nevada 20-6 points in the paint in the first half and brought themselves back down just 2 points at the midway break. Nevada had six turnovers uncharacteristically that also led to the comeback. The rest of the night the Aztecs managed to force only three more turnovers from the Wolf Pack even as the game tightened up.
And then the second half came and it was a slugfest back & forth the rest of the way out. Miles Byrd’s 10 points and 5 assists down the stretch was a big catalyst of the Aztecs completing the road victory. When he’s not scoring Byrd has the playmaking ability to find the open man in advantageous positions.
Tonight the beneficiary often times was Miles Heide. His 10 points on 5-5 shooting was clutch to power the Aztecs in the paint late in the game. His tough 7 rebounds might get overshadowed by Nevada’s performance by Elijah Price’s big night of 17 points, 10 rebounds and 4 steals, but Heide rose to the occasion late with his strong finishes at the rim and adding 2 big blocks.
Through all the lead changes and lineup adjustments, HC Brian Dutcher trusted who was on the floor tonight to dial up the right mixes. The total team victory showed this team’s depth is going to be a strength during Mountain West play—especially on the road where travel is long, crowds are hostile, and some games bring out inconsistencies in matchups.
It was an off rhythm night for some, but not for all and the Aztecs pull away with all hands on deck to advance to 4-0 in league play, while Nevada drops to 3-1.
In the end, it was a big win on the road and should get the team trusting each other even more as they advance into the slate of games. But one game is very little in the grand scheme of things. The road towards that regular season championship still has many more challenges ahead.
Up next: San Diego State returns home to Viejas Arena where they will host Fresno State on Saturday, January 10th. Tip-off is scheduled for 8pm PST.
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