SAN DIEGO — Miles Byrd spent last season intently watching how close the contest was between the San Diego State men's basketball team and UC San Diego.
So, in his first game as the longest-tenured member of the program, the redshirt sophomore from Stockton anchored a 63-58 win over the Tritons on Wednesday night at Viejas Arena.
"We came in today, on the whiteboard in the locker room, it said 'Winning is hard,'" Byrd said. "It's early in the year as our first one of the year, so we're not comfortable in these situations yet.
"But you know, just being in these situations allows us to become more comfortable, so down the line, when we have these tough league games on the road in front of a lot of fans, we're prepped."
Byrd set career highs with 20 points and five steals, while tying his career high of four blocks as SDSU (1-0) erased a six-point deficit with 9:09 remaining and earned their 12th straight season opening win.
The Aztec defense was instrumental down the stretch, forcing misses on seven of eight UCSD (0-1) shots over the final 7:23. It fed the offense scoring its final six field goals of the game in the paint to grind out the win.
"It's honestly just the defense," Byrd said. "When you get a steal and then a poke up rebound and we're pushing the ball, I mean, it's just easy for you to try to go in there and play with (Coleman-Jones) in the paint. Plus they were in foul trouble, so we were trying to get to the free throw line, getting to the paint was how we were going to do that."
Nick Boyd and BJ Davis each added 11 points, while Jared Coleman-Jones scored nine and had a game-high nine rebounds.
"I was fairly happy with what we did on the fly," said head coach Brian Dutcher. "We played a four guard lineup which we're going to do some this year between Taj (DeGourville) and Miles with the other three guards."
Trailing 48-42 with 9:09 to play, Byrd knocked down a clutch 3-pointer to stem a 12-2 run by the Tritons. He then answered an Aniwaniwa Tai-Jones bucket with a driving score, and after missing a triple took the return feed from Wayne McKinney III for a two-hand flush that brought one of the loudest roars for the sellout Viejas crowd all night.
The was the second score in a 12-0 run that gave the Aztecs all the runway they needed, pushing the lead out to seven as McKinney III had a steal and score and-one, then Boyd burst through for a layup to make it 57-50 SDSU with 3:10 to play.
"I thought that Nick did a good job, having missed eight weeks (and) been back basically three weeks, and to go out and play 33 minutes," Dutcher said. "I thought Wayne McKinney played hard, BJ played hard - they're tough guards and guard the ball hard."
SDSU set the defensive tone early, as on the first Triton possession of the game Magoon Gwath flashed across the lane to swat his first of three blocks in the first half and game, a harbinger of the Aztec defense allowing makes on just two-of-16 from inside the arc in the opening half
The Scarlet and Black forced 14 straight misses after Tyler McGhie’s 3-pointer 1:59 into the game, then after McGhie broke the spell the Tritons missed their next four shots.
Byrd made a pair of 3's to kick start a stretch where the Scarlet and Black outscored UCSD by a 19-4 margin in the middle ten minutes of the first half, building a lead as large as 21-10 with 5:31 before the break.
However, the Aztecs struggled to establish the interior game in the opening 20 as they scored just eight points in the paint and drew only one trip to the foul line. By the end of the game SDSU had a 22-20 advantage in paint scoring and made 11-of-15 free throws while UCSD made 8-of-13 from the charity stripe.
McGhie led all scorers with 21 points and made five-of-five from the field in the second half, but did not have a shot in the final 9:59 as the Aztecs defended him with a combination of Byrd and Davis. Tait-Jones scored 10 of his 13 in the second half, but missed his final two shots for the field.
Before the game, the Aztecs hung a banner for their appearance in the 2024 Sweet 16, joining a collection of 28 banners at the west end of Viejas Arena.
"Coming into this program being fresh, it's inspiring," Coleman-Jones said. "Just to see the standard that we're held to, to look up and be like, 'We gotta do it again and again and again,' and just (being) prepared to continue to win. It's just great to see up there, it's a great reminder."
San Diego State is back in action on Tuesday, Nov. 12 against Division III Occidental, before welcoming No. 6 Gonzaga on Monday, Nov. 18.
"All we can control is what we're doing every day," Dutcher said. "So we'll look at the film, take a day off tomorrow and come back and try to learn from this last game and then start stacking practices and games together."
This story was updated at 10:58 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 6.