Defense. Rebounding. Rinse. Repeat.
The San Diego State Aztecs are finding their identity at the halfway point of the Mountain West Conference regular season schedule. They aren’t a shooting team. They are certainly not a 3-point shooting team. But physically and athletically, SDSU can play with anyone in their league.
Against an over-matched Air Force team Tuesday night, the Aztecs (16-6, 5-3 MWC) held the Falcons scoreless for the game’s first 9:45, eventually running away with a 70-48 win in front of 6,126 at Viejas Arena. Malcolm Thomas contributed another double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds, while Kawhi Leonard added a game-high 15 points and 7 boards.
The Falcons had nine missed shots and four turnovers before finally scoring on an Evan Washington putback with 10:15 remaining. In the interim the Aztecs jumped out to a 12-0 lead and never looked back.
“We did what everyone thought we should do, and we did what we had to do to win,” said head coach Steve Fisher after the game, “We were steady from the tip to the finish.”
Read more and watch video interviews with D.J. Gay and Steve Fisher after the jump:
While it was victory that was devoid of drama, the Falcons did frustrate SDSU with their slow-down offense and matchup zone defense. For a large part of the first half, the Aztecs contented themselves with casting off from three-point range, missing 12 of 14 from beyond the arc.
“They slowed us down in the first half, and that’s what they like to do,” said Aztecs point guard D.J. Gay, who hit a pair of second-half three pointers, finishing with 9 points and 4 assists, “in the second half, we wanted them to play our game, that’s up-and-down, and transition.”
Watch a one-on-one postgame video interview with D.J. Gay exclusively on 619 Sports!
With Gay controlling the tempo and speeding things up after halftime, the Aztecs scorched the nets, shooting 63.6% after intermission. Kelvin Davis (despite some cringing misses from beyond the arc, finishing 2-for-7 from deep) finished with 12 points off the bench and Tyrone Shelley added 10 points and 7 rebounds in what Fisher called one of his best games at SDSU.
Watch Steve Fisher’s postgame comments to 619 Sports and the San Diego media!
Jeff Reynolds’ Falcons (9-12, 1-7 MWC) are deliberate to a fault in the half court set, and at times in the first half seemed to be playing not to score. Once point guard Evan Washington had Billy White one-on-one at the top of the key and passed the ball. Another time, after a failed Kawhi Leonard steal attempt, guard Tom Fow was all alone at the three point line and held the ball.
Even so, the Falcons were down by only six early in the second half, before Billy White (6 points, 3 rebounds) and Thomas combined for three straight buckets to extend the SDSU lead. A couple minutes later, Gay hit back-to-back three pointers and the rout was on.
A body-suited "Show"man mocks the Falcons' struggles in conference (619 Sports photo)
The second leg of conference play opens in one of the MWC’s most forbidding road environments, The Pit in Alberquerque. The Aztecs have won three of their last four games in New Mexico and will be bidding for a sweep of the Lobos when they meet on Saturday.
Gay feels that after eight games, there are no more surprises waiting in conference:
“We can compete with anybody, there’s no team that we cannot or should not beat. We don’t want to lose any more games, and from here on out, we look at it as life or death if we want to get into the NCAA tournament. We have to win.”
