San Diego State ended up in just the fight they expected in Provo, but came out on the short end of it as BYU prevailed 74-65.
Both teams established early leads, but the second half was more of a dogfight, until the Cougars (2-0) took charge, led by Dallin Hall, who scored 16 of his 18 points after the break. Two crucial turnovers down the stretch also hampered the Aztecs (1-1) who had hoped to improve their record in Provo, where they fell to 4-31.
No. 27 SDSU scored the first seven points of the game – on jumpers by Jaedon LeDee and Lamont Butler, and free throws by Reese Waters – and maintained an advantage until the midpoint of the half when the Cougars surged, building a nine-point lead, 31-22, with 2:40 on the clock.
San Diego State, though dogged by turnovers, settled down to narrow the gap. Waters and LeDee hit back-to-back layups off BYU turnovers, and by the break the Cougars’ lead had slipped to five, at 33-28.
The Aztecs burst out of the gate as the second half began, with Waters blocking a three-point attempt by Trevin Knell, then, after a jumper by LeDee and a steal that Elijah Saunders followed with a dunk, he hit a three to tie the game at 35.
They led by four with 12 minutes to play, but the lead dwindled away until Hall made a three-pointer, putting his team up 51-50 on the way to a seven-point advantage with 5:30 to play. SDSU climbed back to within two on a Micah Parrish jumper, but could get no closer.
LeDee led all scorers with 21 and Waters added 15. Both teams piled up turnovers – BYU had 14 to SDSU’s 13 – but the Cougars had a slight advantage, scoring 11 points off them, as compared to the Aztecs’ 10.
BYU also heavily relied on their bench, led by Dallin, scoring 42 points. SDSU, lacking the depth of recent squads, had nine.
“I thought we were gritty, but we didn’t execute very well,” head coach Brian Dutcher said.
San Diego State returns to Viejas Arena at 7 p.m. Tuesday to take on Long Beach State (0-1), picked in the preseason to finish second in the Big West. The 49ers play DePaul Saturday before heading to the Mesa.
