When the San Diego State men’s basketball team hosted Fresno State three weeks ago, the Aztecs shot 36 free throws and still lost by seven points.
If only their troubles were so easily defined in the rematch on Tuesday night at the Save Mart Center.
The game’s flow wasn’t any less frenetic or aggressive, but the officials kept the foul calls to a minimum early, and after battling the Bulldogs to a draw in the first 14 minutes, SDSU crumbled in every facet.
Fresno State took advantage of turnovers, missed shots and at least one silly — and costly — foul by senior Malik Pope to go on a 15-2 run before halftime en route to beating the Aztecs 79-61 in front of 6,128.
The Aztecs’ second-most lopsided defeat of the season came in a game critical to their hopes of gaining a higher seed in the Mountain West Tournament.
The middle-of-the-conference pack is so bunched that a win would have moved SDSU into the fifth-seed spot with seven regular-season games left. The top five teams get a bye in the conference tournament
Instead, the loss dropped 5-6 SDSU (13-9 overall) a full game behind UNLV (6-5) and into eighth place.
Fresno State (17-8, 7-5) now has two wins over the Aztecs, and four other teams ahead of them have already beaten SDSU.
Things won’t get any easier for SDSU, which is 1-5 in MW road games this season and will travel to play first-place Nevada (9-1) on Saturday.
Other than free throws, SDSU and FSU were close in nearly every category in their first meeting at Viejas Arena. This time, the Bulldogs’ shooting was considerably more accurate (52 percent to the Aztecs’ 44); FSU scored nine more points off turnovers (21-12); and the Bulldogs got 23 points off the bench.
SDSU’s scoring from its subs: Nolan Narain’s two.
“I thought they had a better game plan against us this time,” SDSU head coach Brian Dutcher said. “The first game we were able to drive and kick it out. This time they didn’t really help inside. We threw the ball to Malik in the low post, and they let me play one on one.”
That didn’t work early because Pope missed four of his first six shots. Worse, the senior got into foul trouble for a second straight time against FSU.
After a missed shot, Pope dived to try to make a steal and was called for his third foul with 4:14 remaining in the first half. FSU was in the midst of its 15-2 run. Pope started the second half, but quickly picked up his fourth foul.
“Obviously, we would have liked to have him in the game,” Dutcher said. “He had 10 points and 10 rebounds, so we would have liked to have him more than 23 minutes. That wasn’t enough.”
With freshman Jalen McDaniels getting six rebounds and freshman Matt Mitchell scoring seven points, the Aztecs were the Bulldogs’ equal in the early going. But after Mitchell scored SDSU’s first 3-pointer with 6:20 left in the half, the Aztecs lost their way.
It started with an inside basket by Fresno State’s Bryson Williams, and when the Aztecs botched the inbound play, Williams got a second easy score to make it 24-20.
From there, the Bulldogs scored six more unanswered points — three on free throws and, more disheartening, center Terrell Carter II got three when he barreled inside, made a basket, was fouled by Kameron Rooks, and converted the free throw.
FSU led 37-26 at halftime, and it could have been worse. Devin Watson drew a foul on a 3-point shot with 1 second remaining and made two of his three free throws.
FSU outscored SDSU 17-6 in the final six minutes of the half.
“It slipped away from us in that little stretch,” Dutcher said. “I wasn’t concerned about the lead at halftime. I tried encouraging the team, telling them we’re going to get a run. We needed to get two or three stops in a row, but we didn’t get those.”
After holding FSU to 45.2-percent shooting in the first half, the Aztecs allowed the Bulldogs a 60.7-percent clip in the second.
The Aztecs, who had won five of their last seven in Fresno, were playing a second straight game without senior captain Trey Kell (ankle).
In his place, Jeremy Hemsley scored 13 points to extend his run of double-figure scoring games to four. But while the Aztecs had five players score in double figures in the first meeting, they had four this time. Mitchell led the team with 16, Watson had 14, and Pope came on late with 10.
McDaniels, who was active early before racking up three fouls, managed only six points on four shots.
In sharp contrast to the last meeting, SDSU shot only 13 free throws, converting seven. FSU was 12 of 14 from the line. Combined, the teams had a remarkable 29 fewer attempts than the previous game.
FSU’s Jaron Hopkins was 8-of-12 shooting and scored 20. Nate Grimes, a sub who burned the Aztecs last time for 15 points, again hurt them with 15.
In two games against SDSU, Grimes made 14 of his 16 shots.
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