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The Aztecs Winning A Game On Free Throws? Believe It! D.J. Gay Beat Colorado State in Thursday's MWC Quarterfinals With A Pair From The Line In The Final Minute

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — I’ve known Randy McClintock for more than 25 years now. Went to college with him at San Diego State. Big Aztec fan, Randy is. Wears a No. 21 Evan Burns (Evan Burns?) white Aztec jersey to games.

Sat with him in the stands here Thursday afternoon for SDSU’s Mountain West Conference tournament opener against Colorado State at the Thomas & Mack Arena. Sat with Randy for a lot of Aztec games over the years.

You’d think we’d be used to it by now. But no matter how many times these guys drive you nuts with silly plays and wild shots, missed free throws (an Aztec tradition) and fumbled rebounds, doing almost everything they can, seemingly, to keep lesser teams in the game, it never gets easier to root, root, root for the ol’ Red and Black.

Finally, when it was over, when Colorado State’s Travis Busch’s desperate heave falling out of bounds from half-court sailed well wide of the mark, and SDSU had survived, 72-71, to keep its NCAA Tournament hopes alive, Randy and I exhaled.

“I’ll tell you,” Randy said. “We’re never going to see (the age of) 70 if we have to keep watching games like this.”

Never did it feel like truer words had been spoken. Cursed through the decades by heart-breaking losses on the football field and basketball court, the life of a die-hard Aztec fan seems as if it can lead us all to only one conclusion: we will die hard (and probably too early, like Randy said).

Even the wins are hard to take. Like Thursday’s.

Favored SDSU charged into the contest as a heavy favorite — and promptly fell behind, 7-0, in the opening three minutes. They were able to right the ship for awhile thanks to freshman guard Chase Tapley, who knocked down everything he threw up, despite playing with a broken bone in his (non-shooting) left hand. Give SDSU Athletic Trainer Mark Haines mad props for pulling out all the stops to get Tapley on the court.

Without him, they would have been in big trouble — as we would all eventually find out in the second half. With his 15 points before intermission, the Aztecs were able to carve out a 41-33 lead. Ominous clouds were forming, however. (They always are when SDSU is playing).

That’s because during the first half, jumping-jack Aztec forward Billy White came back down after a jump and badly twisted his ankle. Again give Haines credit for taping Billy back up and getting him back out there. But with Billy lacking full lift-off, the conference’s best rebounding team (by Continue Reading →

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