San Diego State comes back from 16 down to take the lead early in the second half, then goes flat and loses 87-70 in the semifinals of the Maui Invitational
Doing it twice? No chance.-ranked basketball team lost for the first time this season, falling 87-70 against Arizona in the semifinals of the Maui Invitational on Tuesday night in a game that was a blowout, then suddenly close, then a blowout again.The consolation prize: No. 9 Arkansas, the highest ranked of the eight teams here, in the third-place game Wednesday at 7 p.m. PST on ESPN2. The loser will leave the islands 1-2.
Tuesday’s game matched the Kenpom metric’s No. 4 offense against the No. 9 defense , and the No. 36 offense against the No. 56 defense . The Wildcats won both battles, shooting 58.6 percent against an Aztecs team that rarely lets teams above 40 percent while holding the Aztecs to 38.1 percent and, most notably, only four assists .
The only other Aztec in double figures was Micah Parrish with 10, and the bench had 23 points after contributing 41 against Ohio State. Another game, another slow start. On Monday, the Aztecs missed their first eight shots and trailed 5-0. On Tuesday, they had turnovers on their opening two possessions and three in their first five after just seven all of Monday.
The craziest part: They trailed by only four despite having zero – that’s right, nada – assists in the first half, being outrebounded 22-13 and being outshot 51.6 to 38.7 percent.
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