San Diego State, missing a key cog in their machine, held off a furious comeback by Nevada Wednesday at Viejas Arena to win 71-59.
The Wolf Pack (15-3, 2-2 Mountain West) twice tied the game in the second half, erasing a 16-point deficit, but Jaedon LeDee, Reese Waters and Jay Pal had the answers as SDSU regained control.
The crucial matchup followed the Aztecs’ (15-3, 4-1 MW) drubbing at the hands of New Mexico Saturday, a loss which knocked them out of the Associated Press Top 25. They also had to try and bounce back without an ailing Darrion Trammell, who was not at Viejas Arena.
“Our defense keyed it and allowed us to get out on the fast break and that made the difference in the game,” head coach Brian Dutcher told San Diego Sports 760.
SDSU got off to a fast start in front of the home crowd, spurred by Micah Parrish as he scored six of the Aztecs’ points during a 10-2 run.
Nevada, averaging 77 points a game, was hampered from beyond the arc, missing 10 attempts as SDSU, with a late-half burst, established the double-digit lead.
LeDee scored 11 in the half, going a perfect 4-for-4, though he and the Aztecs were soft from the free-throw line, making 10 of 18.
SDSU also pounded the boards after being outpaced in the New Mexico game. They had 10 in the first half.
Meanwhile, six Nevada players had two fouls apiece by the close of the first half, when the Aztecs took a 38-24 lead into the locker room.
But upon their return, Lamont Butler was forced out by a cut hand and Nevada climbed back into the game.
The Wolf Pack regained their touch from long distance, starting with Tre Coleman and, after a 12-2 run, pulled within two, at 48-46.
Kenan Blackshear tied it up with a layup, but Butler, back in the game, ended a four-minute SDSU scoring drought – after a turnover by Blackshear – with a layup of his own.
Waters followed seconds later with a three and the lead was back to five. But Nevada responded immediately, with another three by Coleman and a layup by Blackshear to knot it up again at 53.
LeDee landed four free throws, followed by a dunk and Pal, for the second time of the night, was there to grab a miss and slam it home. With Pal’s dunk, San Diego State built the lead back up to 61-54. He and Waters added threes down the stretch to take it back into double digits.
LeDee finished with 22 points, followed by Waters with 14. The team ended up with 20 offensive rebounds.
“We always want to play defense and rebound the ball,” LeDee, who had 12, told CBS Sports. “That’s a staple of what we do. And you know we weren’t too happy about what we did last game, so we wanted to come out and really make sure we did (it) this game.”
Next up, the Aztecs travel to face Boise State (12-5, 3-1 MW), which is coming off a loss to UNLV. Tipoff is at 10 a.m. Saturday, both a quick turnaround for SDSU and an early start.
How to prepare? Dutcher said simply, the team has “to be mentally and physically tough to do it.”
