San Diego State University

Disastrous 1st Half Dooms Aztecs in NCAA Tournament

SDSU's offense goes ice cold in loss to Syracuse

The Aztecs picked a bad night to have "one of those nights."

San Diego State lost to Syracuse 78-62 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, snapping their 14-game winning streak and going the dreaded one and done in March Madness.

Senior guard Jordan Schakel hit a couple of 3-pointers to give SDSU a 15-10 lead. Sophomore Keshad Johnson poked the ball away on defense and freshman Lamont Butler fed him for a layup and a pretty 3-point play to make it 18-14.

After that, the game got away from the Aztecs because they couldn't throw the ball in the ocean from the beach. SDSU didn't score over the final 9:37 of the half. Not a field goal. Not a free throw. Not a single point.

Over that span the Orange scored 18 points with a barrage of 3-pointers. Buddy Boeheim nearly matched the Aztecs offensive output with 16 points in the half. Joseph Girard III added 10 as Syracuse took a 32-18 halftime lead.

Syracuse came out and got another hoop to make it a 20-0 run before Schakel knocked down another 3-pointer but it was merely a temporary reprieve from the Orange onslaught.

The Aztecs shot the ball slightly better in the 2nd half but the deficit was just too big to overcome, especially with Boeheim making darn near everything he threw up. The son of Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim finished with 30 points on 11 of 15 shooting.

San Diego State's season ends with a 23-5 record and they'll look drastically different next season with five seniors ... Schakel, Matt Mitchell, Terrell Gomez, Trey Pulliam and Josh Tomaic ... graduating.

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