It wasn’t pretty, but early balance by the San Diego State Aztecs gave way to a finishing flourish led by BJ Davis in an 81-68 win over the San José State Spartans on Tuesday night at the Provident Credit Union Event Center.
A season removed from needing a pair of comebacks, having fallen behind by as much as 21 at Viejas Arena and 17 in Silicon Valley, the Aztecs (8-4, 2-0 Mountain West) led the Spartans (5-8, 0-2) for the vast majority of the game but it never felt fully comfortable until late.
"It's a hard place to play," said head coach Brian Dutcher. "I thought our defense was good. They shot 29% in the second half and 35% for the game. Offensively, other than the turnovers, we end up shooting 53% from the field for the game, which is really good.
"Rebounding was a catch-22 because they'd send four to the glass and when they didn't get it, we got fast break layups... I think the fast break baskets we got when they didn't get it were important for the win."
Davis went into attack mode in the second half, scoring 15 of his 18 points, while Pharaoh Compton came off the bench to score 11 points with an SDSU-high six rebounds. Miles Byrd added 11 points with four steals and Reese Dixon-Waters scored 10 points with a pair of late triples to salt the result.
"You just stay patient, everything will work itself out," Davis said. "If I would have worked myself up over having 3 points at halftime, I probably wouldn't have had a successful second half. It's important to stay ready and optimistic for the opportunities that come ahead."
Wearing their alternate scarlet uniforms, the Aztecs defense put the stop sign up in the second half down the stretch. Top scorer Colby Garland knocked down a jumper to make it a 2-point game with 8:52 remaining, but that would be the only SJSU bucket until a layup with 26.8 second left and the game decided.
The San Diego State closing push came in the final five minutes, as Davis scored 8 of the Aztecs' points in a row and and 10 of 12 points over a three minute stretch where a 63-59 lead ballooned to a 75-62 advantage.
Over the final 13 minutes, San Diego State held the Spartans to 2-of-16 shooting, regularly forcing late shot clock attempts from the perimeter and allowing just five offensive rebounds and 7 second chance points in the last 20 minutes. SJSU managed only 17 points from the field and 13 points at the free throw line in the second half.
"That's Aztec basketball and that hass got to be our staple," Davis said. "If we play defense, the offense will come, and I think our rebounding could have been a little better and that would have let us run and get easier baskets.
"Defense and rebounding will spark our offense. It always has. We just have to be focused on that more."
The opening 20 saw the teams combine for 23 turnovers, with the Aztecs forcing 13 giveaways by the Spartans — 10 of which came in the first 12 minutes.
A 10-0 run across just over four and a half minutes into the game gave SDSU an early lead, but San José State put together a 9-0 run of their own over a 1:11 stretch just past the eight minute mark to stay within shouting distance for the remainder of the initial half.
Balance was the word of the opening 20 minutes for the Scarlet and Black, as all 11 players had at least one field goal, with Magoon Gwath’s 7 points the most on the squad. That balance was also reflected overall on the glass, as every player had at least two rebounds, and additionally seven players recorded at least one assist.
Gwath was called for a technical foul in the first half when tossed the ball in frustration in the direction of Japhet Moupadele after the Spartan had fouled him and sent the SDSU forward to the line for one-and-one. Gwath missed the front end and went to the bench, before returning for the final 98 seconds of the first half and then getting just six minutes in the second stanza as the Aztecs showed more four-guard looks in the second half.
"That was just to get some more offensive production and spread the floor with more offensive players," Dutcher said. "We put a basic ball screen-roll-lift where you lift a low post, and we ran that down the stretch and put BJ Davis at the point and let him get downhill and that's what separated us."
Outside of a game-high 30 points from Garland, the Spartans got 13 points from Melvin Bell Jr. and 10 points from Jermaine Washington, but the trio shot 14-of-42 from the field. San Diego State held SJSU to 34.5% shooting, though the hosts were able to stay in the game for much of the second half thanks to making 13-of-15 at the charity stripe as part of going 22-for-24 at the line in the game.
This was the final regular season Mountain West meeting between the Aztecs and Spartans, as due to the unbalanced schedule SJSU will not be making the trip to The Mesa this season. San Diego State won 21 of the 22 regular season meetings between the programs in the Mountain West era.
SDSU returns home to host host the Boise State Broncos (9-4, 1-1), who knocked off New Mexico 62-53 at home on Tuesday night, for a 7 p.m. tip off on Saturday, January 3 at Viejas Arena. The game will be televised on CBS Sports Network, with radio coverage provided locally on San Diego Sports 760 AM.
This story was updated at 11:33 p.m.