Aztecs rally from 21-point deficit, top San Jose State – elcajon newson Elcajon News only

Maybe they can set off the fire sprinklers in Viejas Arena and flood the floor. Or uncover some obscure earthquake building code it has violated. Or find black mold in the walls or asbestos in the ceiling.

Something, anything, to prevent the San Diego State men’s basketball team from playing anymore games here this season. Just play ’em all on the road.

Or if that’s not possible, equip every seat with its own defibrillator.

The youthful Aztecs didn’t just play with fire Tuesday night, they danced on the rim of a volcano — trailing by 21 points in the first half (yes, 21) and by 16 inside 13 minutes to go before salvaging a wild, crazy, insane, absolutely bonkers 71-68 victory against San Jose State.

The last time the Spartans beat the Aztecs in San Diego? Back in 1997, when they played home games at the Sports Arena.

The last time the Aztecs lost a home game against a team ranked outside the top 150 in the Kenpom metric (the Spartans are 177th)? You have to go back to Dec. 9, 2017, against a Cal team rated 244th.

It would have been a Quad 4 loss, which is generally death on an NCAA Tournament resume for a bubble team. But it wasn’t, and the Aztecs (14-5, 7-3) live to see another day.

They escaped at 3-18 Air Force with Wayne McKinney II’s buzzer-beating layup in overtime. Now they overcome the second-largest deficit in a victory since at least 1996-97, which is how far SDSU’s records go back for these sorts of statistics. The largest was 22 down against Green Bay on Nov. 20, 2010, but that team was loaded with seniors and a sophomore named Kawhi Leonard.

This team is new and young, and prone to mental lapses, especially, for some unknown reason, at home, where they have already lost three times this season after losing just six in the previous five seasons combined.

Coach Brian Dutcher likes to talk about the 3-pointer being basketball’s great equalizer, and it was Tuesday night. The Spartans made nine in the first half and 15 for the game, the most since 2021.

The savior was 7-foot redshirt freshman Magoon Gwath, who had his second straight dominant game, following 15 points and 13 rebounds Saturday at Nevada with 24 points on 9 of 15 shooting against the Spartans.

Miles Byrd didn’t score until there was 12:38 left in the game but still finished with 13 points after making three deeeeep 3s. Nick Boyd added 11 points but missed the front end of a one-and-one up three with 6.6 seconds left, giving the Spartans one last chance at a tie.

Will McClendon’s contested 3 missed everything, Miles Heide – starting for the injured Jared Coleman-Jones (shoulder), grabbed the rebound, and the buzzer sounded to the utter relief of Viejas Arena, and the coaches, and the players.

The players and coaches talked about turning a corner after Saturday’s 69-50 win at Nevada’s Lawlor Events Center, a place where they had lost two straight and five of the last seven. “Pushed through a wall,” is how Dutcher put it.

Well, they pushed through a wall – only to find a sheer cliff on the other side.

The first half wasn’t their worst of the season. But the first 12 minutes certainly were.

It went from 14-10 Spartans to 30-10 Spartans. The visitors made four of their first seven attempts beyond the 3-point arc, and the Aztecs response was to dare them to take more.

So the Spartans did. By halftime they were 9 of 16 (56.3%) behind the arc against a team allowing 7.2 per game and allowing opponents to shoot a Mountain West-low 28.1%.

That was on defense. On offense, they had 10 turnovers in 11 minutes – on pace for a whooping 36 over 40 minutes. They dribbled off their legs (three or four times). They threw lobs to 7-footers like they were 6-footers. They had the ball stripped. Or they just lost it inexplicably.

They also fouled a 3-point shooter for, what, the 358th time this season?

San Jose State’s Latrell Davis (23 points) missed a free throw. But wait. A lane violation on the Aztecs gave him another attempt, which he made.

The Aztecs did what they have all season and fought, but every time they got close, the Spartans responded with another 3.

They got within 10 late in the first half … only for 7-foot-2 Chol Marial, who had made one 3 all season, to calmly drain one from the left corner.

They opened the second half with a 5-0 run to cut the margin to seven … only for Donovan Yap Jr. and Will McClendon to make back-to-back 3s.

They got it back to 10 … only for Yap to make another.

Byrd made a 3 from the right corner to cut it to nine … only for Davis to respond with one 30 seconds later.

But finally, the Spartans became only lukewarm instead of lava hot, and the Aztecs started make some of their own – specifically Byrd from the 310 area code.

The score for the first 27 minutes: 55-39, Spartans.

The score over the final 13: 32-13, Aztecs.