With 7:25 left to play in the first half of the Mountain West Conference Tournament semi-finals, Utah State guard Javon Jackson hit a 3-pointer to give the Aggies a 34-17 lead over San Diego State. All-American Jaedon LeDee was on the bench with foul trouble. Everything seemed to be going against the Aztecs.
What happened next was as amazing as it was unexpected.
From that point on SDSU outscored the 18th-ranked team in the country 69-36, rolling to an 86-70 win and another trip to the MWC Tournament title game, their 7th straight appearance under head coach Brian Dutcher. The Aztecs were, as we've come to expect, led by LeDee, who scored 17 of his game-high 22 points in the 2nd half. But this time he had lots of help.
Lamont Butler, Micah Parrish, Darrion Trammell, and Reese Waters also reached double-digits, the first time SDSU has had five players score at least 10 points since the third game of the season against Long Beach State. After losing the last two games of the regular season the Aztecs have bounced back nicely, winning two straight to start tournament season.
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It's precisely the moment you want to find your rhythm.
"I say you get better or you get worse and we're getting better. It's a good time to get better," said Dutcher.
The Aztecs will try to continue their upward trajectory in the conference tournament title game on Saturday afternoon at 3:00pm against either New Mexico or Colorado State, and SDSU will have a massive advantage. The Lobos and Rams tipped off at close to 9:30pm on Friday night so they'll have a quick turnaround, plus they'll be playing for a 4th straight day.
