It’s been a week of big waves along the San Diego coastline, fittingly, because the Aztecs are riding a pretty impressive wave of their own.
San Diego State shredded Fresno State at Viejas Arena Wednesday, rolling to a 74-47 victory for their fifth win in a row.
“Well, that’s a good way to open conference,” said head coach Brian Dutcher. “It was a complete performance.”
The Aztecs (12-2, 1-0 MW) and the Bulldogs (7-7, 0-1) began Mountain West play with the teams surfing different waves.
The Bulldogs were coming off a loss amid a stretch of 19 days without a home game. The Aztecs, meanwhile, after a season-defining victory over perennial powerhouse Gonzaga last week, found themselves just shy of the final slot in the Associated Press Top 25.
Their last victory seemingly carried over as the Aztecs raced out to a 10-4 lead with guard Micah Parrish scoring half of their points. Parrish added another basket later as the Aztecs lead grew to 14-6.
The game settled into a tug of war for a short time, but the Aztecs picked up the scoring again. Miles Heide came off the bench, and got a rebound and a put back wile guard Miles Byrd added a long three-pointer.
Then it was time for the Jaedon LeDee show as the senior drove home an alley-oop slam and a layup in back-to-back possessions. He added four more points as he closed out the half with a game leading 10 points, propelling the Aztecs to a 39-26 lead at halftime. LeDee would finish with a game high 21 points.
The second half was more of the same.
Senior Lamont Butler had seven points to start it off and LeDee continued his scoring, doing a lot of damage on the inside and under the basket.
Jay Pal added a three-pointer and before you knew it, the SDSU lead had jumped to 20, then 30 points with a little more than six minutes to go.
Despite the double-digit lead, the Aztecs still dove for loose balls, fought for rebounds and
chased down the Bulldogs.
Still, it wasn’t all good news. The Aztecs finished the game without Reese Waters (ankle sprain) and Byrd (turf toe). But by the end, Dutcher was able to substitute little-used players Cam Lawin and Ryan Schwarz. Freshman B.J. Davis also got significant minutes.
Butler said the team had put the Gonzaga win behind them.
“Our goal is to win a conference championship,” he said. “That started today.”
Conference play continues at 1 p.m. Saturday as the Aztecs welcome UNLV to Viejas. The game will be broadcast on CBS.
