UNLV's 62-58 win over No. 21 San Diego State on Rebels' Senior Night drops Aztecs into fifth place in the Mountain West heading in Friday's regular-season finale against Boise State at Viejas Arena
You know the drill, or you should by now. Dreadful start on the road in front of a geeked-up crowd. A courageous comeback to pull even late. Fail to make plays down the stretch. Lose. Again. Wash, rinse, repeat.
San Diego State lost its eighth game of the season — and possibly a 4 seed and a favorable geographic site in the NCAA Tournament — the same way it has the other seven, this time 62-58 on Senior Night at UNLV. Losses late in the season always seem to carry heavier consequences, and this one certainly did. It ends any of hopes of repeating as regular season champions, dropping the No. 21 Aztecs into fifth place in the Mountain West with one game remaining. Now they need a win Friday at Viejas Arena against 12-5 Boise State or a New Mexico loss just to stay in the top five and avoid the play-in game in the conference tournament in this same building next week. It also was the first smudge on their résumé, a Quad 2 loss after being 19-0 in Quad 2 or lower games, that could bump them off the 4 seed line in the NCAA Tournament — meaning they could be shipped out of the West for the opening weekend. And it was a rare Rebels win in a series that SDSU has absolutely owned, entering the night having won 22 of the previous 24 meetings and the last five at the Thomas & Mack Center. And one more: It was their eighth road loss, the most in seven seasons. “As disappointed as you are,” coach Brian Dutcher said, “in reality we lost to a team that’s won 10 of its last 11 games and is playing good basketball. It’s not like we came out and lost to a bad team. We lost to the hottest team in the Mountain West on their home floor and had a shot to win the game.” That came with 11 seconds left, after a Lamont Butler steal and layup had tied it and erased what once was a 17-point deficit. The Rebels reclaimed the lead on a step-back jumper by 6-foot-1 freshman guard Dedan Thomas Jr. over 6-foot-9 forward Jay Pal — “tough shot,” Dutcher assessed — and the Aztecs called timeout to draw up a play. Dutcher admits they usually never work, but this one had promise. A screen to free Micah Parrish for a 3 caught his defender, and the senior who had made his last three attempts behind the arc appeared to have an open look. Except 6-9 Rebels forward Kalib Boone left Jaedon LeDee in the post to contest Parrish’s shot on the perimeter … and barely got a finger on it. The Rebels corralled the rebound, Thomas made two free throws, and the Aztecs dropped to 3-6 in the Mountain West on the road — with the three wins coming against the bottom three teams. “I wanted to run a play to get a 3 to take the lead, and they blocked the shot,” Dutcher said. “I can’t be disappointed with the execution. We ran the play well, and they made a timely play. It’s disappointing, but it’s life on the road in this conference. It’s not easy.” LeDee finished with a season-low 12 points on 2 of 12 shooting. Sophomore Elijah Saunders compensated with 14 points after making a career-high four 3s before leaving in the final minute with a leg cramp. Parrish and Butler also scored in double figures, and Darrion Trammell had seven assists and four steals. But Pal went scoreless and Reese Waters had three points in just 14 minutes — his fewest this season in a game where he wasn’t hurt. The most discouraging stat: 28.1 shooting overall and just 22.6 percent inside the arc, negating a season-high 20 offensive rebounds and only eight turnovers. “A night when you make 11 3s, you hope you get a win,” Dutcher said. “But we shot 28 percent, which isn’t good enough.” Saunders’ take: “It’s fun to come all the way back, but we should never have been down in the first place.” Maybe next season SDSU can make a special request from the conference office: No more bye weeks, please. Just play straight through. Rest, sleep, off days, a chance to heal bumps and bruises, an opportunity to refresh the mind and soul — all overrated. Their first conference bye came in late January before a game at Colorado State. Their start: down 17-4 en route to a 79-71 loss. The second bye came over the weekend. Their start Tuesday: miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss. It was the ninth time in the last 10 games they have trailed after five minutes. The lone exception was against a Fresno State team that basically stopped running back on defense and trailed by 30 in the first half. But despite being on pace to do what the SDSU women did last week at UNLV — losing, gulp, 100-41 — the men grabbed shovels and started digging out from a 27-10 hole. Their first basket didn’t come until 12:05 left in the half and they missed 23 of their first 25 shots, but once the lid was off they managed a 10-0 run that made it a game again. Halftime score: 33-28, Rebels. “I feel like we were prepared for this game,” Saunders said. “We had a great couple practices. … It was a lot of their tenacity to start the game. You could tell they were ready to play. It reminded me of New Mexico. Their pressure, it was throwing us off and we couldn’t run our offense. We finally started to settle in.” Next up: Friday vs. Boise State for Senior Night … The officials: Mike Reed, Mike Littlewood and Randy Richardson. Littlewood hit Dutcher with a technical foul with 15:30 to go for arguing a late whistle on what appeared to be an Aztecs block … SDSU had been 47-6 under Dutcher when making at least 10 3s … It was the third time in Dutcher’s seven-year tenure that the Aztecs have shot under 30 percent. Two have come at UNLV … It was Senior Night at UNLV. Six players were honored, including starters Luis Rodriguez and brothers Keylan and Kalib Boone. The brothers combined for 22 points, 17 rebounds and seven blocks … The Aztecs had only 12 points in the paint, a season low. They had 40 last week against San Jose State ... UNLV closes the regular season at rival Nevada on Saturday.
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