The Aztecs Men's basketball team might not be used to participating in a "play-in" game in the Mountain West Tournament. The first half against UNLV in the opening round Wednesday night was rough for San Diego State.
SDSU fell behind by 18 points and managed only 14 before halftime.
We’re not sure what head coach Steve Fisher said to the squad during halftime, but it worked!
In the second half the Aztecs started clicking. SDSU went on a 14-0 run in a matter of minutes after scoring just 14 points the entire first half.
Junior guard Trey Kell hit a three point shot to get the offense going. That was the jump start they needed. D'erryl Williams found Victor Izundu for a beautiful dunk and it seemed like the team got its groove back. Within minutes SDSU trimmed the deficit to eight points.
The tipping point came when Matt Shrigley nailed a three pointer to give San Diego State a 41-40 lead.
The battle against the Running Rebels would go into overtime where SDSU secured the win to advance to the quarterfinals with a 62-52 victory over UNLV.
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The Aztecs overcame their largest second-half deficit to win since at least the 1996-97 season. Junior forward Malik Pope finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Kell was right behind him with 13 points and 7 rebounds. SDSU will play Boise State in the quarterfinal round of the Mountain West Tournament on Thursday night.
