It was close until it wasn’t.

San Diego State used a second half surge to win a tightly fought crosstown rivalry game 74-57 against the University of San Diego Saturday at Viejas Arena.

“Hey, we’re the city champs,” said a smiling head coach Brian Dutcher after the game,
referring to the team’s victory last month against UC San Diego. “We know USD was going to come in here, they’re well coached. They put up a good fight.”

The Aztecs (6-2, 1-0 Mountain West) were back in Viejas Arena for the first time in more than two weeks.

They found success on the road with victories over Creighton and Fresno State and a huge upset of then top-ranked Houston that earned them a spot in the Associated Press Top 25, at No. 24.

The Aztecs and Toreros (3-6) started off trading baskets leading to an 11-11 score at the first break, with the Aztecs tying the game on a behind-the-back pass from guard Miles Byrd to freshman forward Pharaoh Compton, who laid it up for two.

SDSU began to pull away after that, increasing their lead to as much as 10 points, thanks
mostly to freshman guard Taj DeGourville, who had nine points in the early going, including a driving floater and a three-pointer.

But USD, which has yet to begin West Coast Conference play, battled back to cut the lead to three points as senior forward Bendji Pierre buried back-to-back three pointers with less than three minutes to go in the half. Pierre, who led the Toreros in scoring with 17 points, hit another three later to cut the lead to one.

Guard Wayne McKinney III, who transferred from USD last spring to join the Aztecs, grabbed a rebound and passed it to senior forward Jared Coleman-Jones who muscled in for a basket to expand the Aztecs’ lead again.

Sophomore forward Miles Heide got the home team’s last basket of the half, but USD responded with two points of their own to leave the score at 33-31 Aztecs at the half.

Senior guard Nick Boyd said the team wasn’t focused enough in the first half. Dutcher called it more a matter of the team playing rushed.

“We’re just pressing so hard to make things happen,” he said.

The second half began with the Aztecs running up small leads of four and then six points,
highlighted by a jam from Compton that brought roars from the crowd.

A foul call on guard BJ Davis cut the lead to two, but Boyd took over, driving for a basket and then shooting a corner three to give the Aztecs a 44-28 lead. Boyd led the team with 17 points.

“We want to attack the rim, get as many shots up at the rim,” said Boyd. “Put pressure on the rim so we can rebound.”

Compton brought the crowd to its feet again after stealing the ball and going up for a slam dunk that made it 48-42 Aztecs during an 8-0 run.

The Toreros kept hanging around, but then went more than four minutes without a field goal. That gave the Aztecs the opportunity to run away with the game, as Byrd hit a long three to open up a commanding lead of 64-50 with less than seven minutes to go in the game.

Byrd, who finished with 13 points, hit another three on the second-to-last shot of the game and Heide got two more points to close out the scoring. The Aztecs had four players in double-digits.

The Aztecs and Toreros were meeting for the 52nd time, with SDSU holding a 32-19
advantage.

Next up for SDSU is a home game at 7 p.m. Wednesday against California Baptist and then
they will get a 10-day break.

“We’re learning,” said Dutcher. “We’re growing as a team. And the beauty of this team is that we’re super deep. The depth of this team is really dangerous. I love this team. The depth and offensive capability we have.”