MW basketball: Aztecs bounce back from bad week

The San Diego State Aztecs are putting coach Brian Dutcher’s patience to a test lately.

“That’s how coaches get gray hair,” said Dutcher after a narrow 72-69 win over UC Irvine last Tuesday. “I got a lot of it. And I got some extra tonight.”

The Aztecs, the No. 1 team in this week’s Nevada Appeal Mountain West men’s basketball rankings, survived the scare from Irvine and then destroyed Occidental three nights later, 95-57, to improve to 6-2 on the young season.

The two wins last week came after a disappointing week (Nov. 22-23 in Hawaii) that saw the Aztecs lose to nationally ranked Arizona (87-70) and Arkansas (78-74 in overtime) to put their AP national ranking in jeopardy.

“That’s tremendous respect for our program,” said Dutcher of the Aztecs staying in the national Top 25 rankings despite the losses to Arizona and Arkansas. “Most non-Power Five schools lose two in a row and they (the voters) can’t get them out of the rankings fast enough.”

The wins over Irvine and Occidental were crucial, Dutcher said, for the Aztecs to sustain their national standing and for their confidence.

“Had we lost tonight (against Irvine) they would have had us out of the (AP) poll in a hurry,” Dutcher said.

Nathan Mensah led the Aztecs against Irvine with 18 points and six rebounds. Matt Bradley had 14 points and six boards despite missing 4-of-5 threes.

The game against Occidental was basically over at halftime as the Aztecs jumped out to a 59-29 lead at the break in front of 12,115 fans at Viejas Arena. Adam Seiko had 20 points and six threes and Micah Parrish had 14 points and four threes as a dozen Aztecs scored three or more points. The five starters averaged just 18 minutes each.

The Aztecs, 27-1 over their last 28 home games, drained a program-record 19 3-pointers against Occidental, equaling the eighth-most in Mountain West history.

No. 2 Boise State (6-2) beat Northridge (55-46) and Texas A&M (86-71) last week. Marcus Shaver had 19 points, five rebounds and four assists against Northridge while Max Rice had 25 and Shaver had 20 in Fort Worth, Texas, against Texas A&M. Chibuzo Agbo had 13 points and 11 rebounds at Texas A&M. The Broncos never trailed against Texas A&M and had a season-high 11 3-pointers.

The victory in Boise over Northridge was a bit tougher. The Broncos led just 28-27 at halftime, shooting 37 percent from the floor and missing 15-of-22 threes.

“You have to win those games when you don’t shoot the ball well and the ball doesn’t bounce your way,” Boise State coach Leon Rice said. “If you can accomplish the mission on those nights, then that’s great. But a month from now nobody is going to remember if you win by 20 or you win by nine.”

“A win is a win,” said Boise State’s Tyson Degenhart, who had 11 points against Northridge. “It doesn’t matter how pretty it was.”

No. 3 New Mexico improved to 7-0 after a 69-65 win at Saint Mary’s last Wednesday. The Lobos had five players score between 10-17 points, led by Jaelen House’s 17. House had six steals and now leads the Mountain West at 3.4 steals a game.

“I told our guys, ‘You haven’t seen a defense this year as physical and with as much size like this yet,” New Mexico coach Richard Pitino said. “It was a little alarming at first (the Lobos trailed 13-2). But we adjusted well.”

New Mexico rallied to take a 27-23 lead at halftime as Saint Mary’s missed 8-of-9 threes and shot just 30 percent (7-of-23) from the floor overall in the first 20 minutes.

“That’s our will and our fight,” said New Mexico’s Donovan Dent, who had 13 points in 24 minutes off the bench. “We just stayed with our will on defense.”

“This was a good character win for our guys,” Pitino said.

No. 4 UNLV (8-0) whipped San Diego, 95-78, Saturday behind 19 points from Luis Rodriguez, 17 from Elijah Harkless and 16 from Justin Webster in 19 minutes. The Rebels made 13-of-27 threes, led by Rodriguez (3-of-5) and Webster (4-of-4).

“We showed our growth,” UNLV coach Kevin Kruger said. “They (the Rebels) are having fun now.”

No. 5 Utah State also remained undefeated (7-0) with wins over San Francisco (82-64) and Utah Tech (86-81).

Steve Ashworth had 27 points in 32 minutes off the bench and Taylor Funk had 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists against Utah Tech. Dan Akin had 19 points in 33 minutes off the bench against San Francisco on Sunday as five Aggies scored in double figures.

“They took the fight to us from the very beginning,” said Utah State coach Ryan Odom after the win over Utah Tech. “But our guys responded.”

Utah Tech, of the Western Athletic Conference, found itself in a 36-36 halftime tie with the Aggies and also led 52-50 with just under 12 minutes to play. Utah Tech coach Jon Judkins played for Utah State in the late 1980s.

“They were probably the more physical team tonight,” Odom said. “But I will never complain about a victory.”

No. 6 Colorado State (6-3) beat Loyola Marymount, 87-71, on Wednesday last week but then suffered an 88-83 loss to Northern Colorado three days later.

John Tonje had 23 points and Isaiah Rivera had 19 against Marymount while Patrick Cartier had 23 and Isaiah Stevens had 20 against Northern Colorado.

The Rams lost to Northern Colorado despite making 11-of-22 threes and turning the ball over just six times. It was Northern Colorado’s first win at Colorado State’s Moby Arena since 1972.

Colorado State trailed by as much as 15 in the second half (68-53 with 11:30 to play) before rallying for a 74-73 lead on a free throw by James Moors with 3:58 left. 

No. 7 Nevada (7-2) beat Sam Houston State, 78-60, last week at home and fell at Loyola Marymount, 64-52. Jarod Lucas, who is fourth in the Mountain West in scoring at 17.2 points a game, had 18 against Loyola Marymount. The other four Pack starters, though, scored a combined 16 points on 5-of-29 shooting.

The Wolf Pack and Lions were tied, 33-33, at halftime but Nevada shot 3-of-22 in the second half for one of its worst shooting performances in the second half in school history. The Wolf Pack was 2-of-10 on threes after halftime and an eye-opening 1-of-12 inside the arc.

No. 8 San Jose State (6-3) fell to Arkansas, 99-58, in Fayetteville, Ark., in front of 19,200 fans at Bud Walton Arena. Omari Moore had 21 for San Jose State.

No. 9 Fresno State (2-5) won at Irvine, 80-66, on Saturday. Isaiah Moore had 22 points and nine rebounds for Fresno State. Eduardo Andre blocked four shots in 10 minutes off the bench for the Bulldogs.

No. 10 Wyoming (3-5), which has battled numerous injuries so far this year, lost to Grand Canyon at home last Saturday, 66-58. The Cowboys also lost to Santa Clara on the road at Salt Lake City on Wednesday.

Noah Reynolds had 25 points in 27 minutes off the bench against Santa Clara, but then didn’t play against Grand Canyon because of injury. Hunter Maldonado didn’t play against Santa Clara, but returned to the floor against Grand Canyon to score 12 points with four assists and four rebounds.

“It’s been hard,” said Wyoming coach Jeff Linder of the injuries his Cowboys have had to deal with this year. “It’s not like you can say, ‘OK, we’ve got this group of guys and we know exactly what we can do with this group.’ We’ve had to play guys in different spots that what they are used to.”

No. 11 Air Force (5-4) lost at Portland State, 68-64, on Saturday after beating Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 81-53, at home on Wednesday. Just 1,176 fans showed up at home to see four Falcons score in double figures (Ethan Taylor led the way with 16) against Pine Bluff. Rytis Petraitis had 22 points and eight rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench against Portland State.

The Nevada Appeal’s Mountain West men’s basketball rankings for the week of Dec. 5:

1. SAN DIEGO STATE (6-2, 0-0): Beat UC Irvine (72-69) and Occidental (95-57). This week: vs. Troy (Monday), vs. Saint Mary’s at Phoenix (Saturday).

2. BOISE STATE (6-2, 0-0): Beat CS Northridge (55-46), Texas A&M (86-71). This week: vs. Eastern Oregon (Tuesday), at St. Louis (Saturday).

3. NEW MEXICO (7-0, 0-0): Beat Saint Mary’s (69-65). This week: vs. Western New Mexico (Tuesday), vs. UTSA (Saturday).

4. UNLV (8-0, 0-0): Beat San Diego (95-78). This week: at Hawaii (Wednesday), vs. Washington State (Saturday).

5. UTAH STATE (7-0, 0-0): Beat Utah Tech (86-81), San Francisco (82-64). This week: vs. Loyola Marymount in Las Vegas (Saturday).

6. COLORADO STATE (6-3, 0-0): Last week: Beat Loyola Marymount (87-71), lost to Northern Colorado (88-83). This week: at Colorado (Thursday), vs. Peru State (Sunday).

7. NEVADA (7-2, 0-0): Last week: Beat Sam Houston State (78-60), lost to Loyola Marymount (64-52). This week: at Pepperdine (Tuesday), at Oregon (Saturday).

8. SAN JOSE STATE (6-3, 0-0): Last week: Lost to Arkansas (99-58). This week: vs. CS Bakersfield (Tuesday), at Santa Clara (Saturday).

9. FRESNO STATE (2-5, 0-0): Last week: Beat UC Irvine (80-66). This week: vs. CS Northridge (Wednesday), at Pacific (Saturday).

10. WYOMING (3-5, 0-0): Last week: Lost to Santa Clara (89-85), Grand Canyon (66-58). This week: vs. Texas A&M-Commerce (Tuesday), vs. Louisiana Tech (Saturday).

11. AIR FORCE (5-4, 0-0): Last week: Beat Arkansas Pine-Bluff (81-53); lost to Portland State (68-64). This week: vs. South Dakota (Tuesday), vs. Arkansas State (Friday).