San Diego State needed rebounds and a call Saturday in the battle for third place in the Mountain West.
But the Aztecs (15-6, 8-4 MW) got neither – and missed their share of free throws too – ultimately losing to Colorado State 68-63.
With less than a minute to play, and the Rams’ lead down to three, SDSU watched Jalen Lake and Nique Clifford miss shots, but each time Colorado State (15-8, 9-3 MW) grabbed the rebound.
Rashaan Mbemba did so in a crowd of Aztecs and fell to the ground, with Nick Boyd immediately rotating his wrists to show he thought Mbemba traveled. The refs disagreed, calling Boyd for a foul instead, sending the Ram to the line, where he hit two key free throws.
With 48 seconds left, SDSU needed a fast three, but Colorado State’s defense prevailed to preserve the win.
“We played hard enough to win it, but we didn’t play well enough to win it,” head coach Brian Dutcher told San Diego Sports 760.
San Diego State. returning to action after a week-long layoff, looked sluggish early, missing shots as the Rams got out to a 12-5 lead.
The Aztecs livened up after Boyd drove to the basket for a layup. Miles Byrd added a second-chance dunk to make it 15-11 Colorado State and, after a layup by Pharaoh Compton, buried a three-pointer to bring the Aztecs within one at 17-16.
Jared Coleman-Jones added his own shot from long distance to tie it up at 19 with 7:26 on the clock. The Aztecs and the Rams met each other nearly shot-for-shot through the remainder of the half, with SDSU finally taking the lead, 29-27, on free throws by Coleman-Jones at the 2:29 mark.
But Clifford, who led all scorers in the first half with 11, promptly hit a three-point jumper to again give the Rams the lead, and they maintained it, going into the break up 38-35.
But San Diego State, a team that typically heats up in the second half, did so again, quickly erasing the deficit.
Magoon Gwath opened up the scoring with a layup off a turnover by Mbemba. BJ Davis put SDSU on top with two second-chance threes, one off his own rebound, the other after a grab by Gwath.
Taj DeGourville also capitalized on a Colorado State mistake, this time on a travel by Jaylen Crocker-Johnson, to make a three and give SDSU its biggest lead of the night at 46-42.
The Rams, however, didn’t let the game get away from them, answering with a three from Kyan Evans. A layup by Degourville pushed the lead back to three, and Coleman-Jones blocked a shot by Keshawn Williams that might have kept it that way but for Clifford.
He nailed a second-chance shot from long distance to again tie it up, this time at 50, and the resulting 12-1 run by Colorado State – which included turnovers by Boyd, Byrd and DeGourville – allowed the Rams to build their largest lead of the game, 59-51 with 9:24 to play.
Yet the door remained open as Colorado State made only one field goal from that point on. But the Aztecs went even colder, failing to hit a basket for more than seven minutes, until Wayne McKinney III broke the drought with a three.
Their free-throw woes also hurt, as SDSU went 5-for-13 from the line in the second half. Not so for the Rams, who landed their free throws, going 11-of-15 in the half. Colorado State also out-rebounded SDSU, 44 to 35.
“You can’t do both of those because that loses you the game,” Coleman-Jones told San Diego Sports of the free throw and rebound deficits.
Clifford finished with 21 points and 13 rebounds. Byrd, on the other hand, had an off night, with just 7 points, while going 1-for-8 from long distance. And as those two go, at least in showdowns between the Aztecs and Rams, so goes the teams. Byrd had a career night, and Clifford a poor one, in SDSU’s 75-60 win over Colorado State in January.
Gwath led the Aztecs with 15 points, adding 10 rebounds.
San Diego State has a quick turnaround, traveling to San Jose State (12-13, 5-8 MW) for their next game, at 8 p.m. Tuesday. The Spartans gave the Aztecs a serious run for their money on Jan. 28, with SDSU prevailing after a late run. And they will be hungry after losing by 27 to Boise State Friday.
