Aztecs senior Winston Shepard tried to carry his team to a road win against #16 Utah but the Utes hung on Monday night 81-76 in Salt Lake City.
Shepard scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half to help his team erase a 6-point halftime deficit against their former Mountain West conference foes.
San Diego State fell behind again in the final minutes after Lorenzo Bonam nailed a triple to put the Utes up 59-56. The closest they came after that bucket was 75-73 on a 3-ball by Shepard with 34 seconds to play. But the Utes sank 9 of their final 10 free throws to nail down the victory.
The Aztecs shot over 74 percent on free throws this game – better than what we’ve come to expect in recent years.
But allowing 81 points on defense is clearly where coach Steve Fisher and his staff will look when pointing out what went wrong in this early showdown.
Utah had all five starters finish in double figures. Jordan Loveridge led the way with 21 points and Austrian 7-foot center Jacob Poeltl (Pronounced YAH-Kub PURR-tul) collected 15 points and 12 rebounds to pace the Utes.
San Diego native Trey Kell also contributed 15 points and 7 rebounds and Dakari Allen had another strong outing with 15 points off the bench.
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Allen made 3 treys in the 1st half and provided solid outside shooting for the second straight contest.
He led the Aztecs with 20 points in SDSU’s opening win over Cal State-San Marcos.
Next up for SDSU is a home date Wednesday, November 18 at 7 p.m. against San Diego Christian before Little Rock visits Montezuma Mesa this Saturday, November 21.
