SDSU Skid at Five Thanks to Hawaii

SAN DIEGO —  Well, that takes care of that.

No more jockeying for position in the Western Athletic Conference standings for the San Diego State basketball team. The Aztecs lost to Hawaii Thursday night, 74-61, ensuring that they will play Air Force in the eighth-place game when the WAC tournament starts Wednesday in El Paso, Tex.

They clinched eighth in the WAC regular season in front of 3,266 in the San Diego Sports Arena. It was the final home game for the Aztecs and their fifth loss in a row. SDSU has now lost seven of eight and five of six in the absence of center Marty Dow.

“When Marty went out, it seemed like everybody got scared,” said Aztec Shawn Jamison. “We’ve got to learn to play over that, and the team hasn’t learned how to overcome that. Everybody started acting like the season was down the drain.”

The loss also clinched a losing season for SDSU (13-16, 4-11) for the fifth time in a row. SDSU will appear in the eighth-place game of the WAC tournament for the second consecutive season.

With Dow out, the bulk of the SDSU offense and inside game falls to Jamison. He had 23 points but just four rebounds and got into foul trouble early, drawing three before halftime and his fourth with 16:17 to play.

It was a close game during the first half and part of the second, but Hawaii pulled away quickly and steadily in the final 10 minutes.

The key to that, said Hawaii Coach Riley Wallace, was that the Rainbows (21-7, 10-5) learned at halftime that WAC leader Brigham Young (21-7, 11-5) had lost to Colorado State (20-7, 10-5), 59-57, Thursday, meaning that a victory would keep Hawaii in the race.

“That did fire us up,” Wallace said. “(Hawaii’s players) huddled themselves up, and you could just see them get together.”

Nobody did so more Vince Smalls. He scored 11 of Hawaii’s first 17 second-half points and finished with 18. He came into the game averaging just under six a game.

And sharpshooting guard Chris Gaines finally got well. He finished with 20 points--two above his average--after scoring just 19 points in Hawaii’s past two games combined.

Hawaii led at the half, 34-30, and never trailed in the second half. Jamison’s dunk with 14:46 left pulled the Aztecs to within three, 42-39, but Hawaii outscored SDSU over the next four minutes, 14-6, and led, 56-45, with 10:01 left. After that, SDSU never got closer than nine.

Hawaii’s biggest advantage was on the boards. The Rainbows had a total of 37 rebounds--19 offensive--to SDSU’s 26. It was the Rainbows’ play under their offensive boards that took care of SDSU. By the time the Aztecs called a timeout with 7:36 to play and the score 62-49, 17 of Hawaii’s 33 rebounds to that point were offensive, and the Rainbows had 19 second-chance points.

“Second shots killed us,” Coach Jim Brandenburg said. “We knew one of the keys was going to be to keep them off the offensive boards.”

Said Jamison: “Nobody crashed the boards tonight. We just need people to step up. I can’t get every rebound. We’re just not playing hard. We’re just not going to the boards.”

And that wasn’t all that agitated Jamison. On a night dedicated to SDSU’s three seniors--Michael Best, Rodney Jones and Kevin Honaker--the Aztecs came up flat.

“You look up in the stands and there’s no support,” Jamison said. “It brings you down. Sometimes you need a little crowd support to get you going. It was our last home game. I understand our record is bad, but this is just unbelieveable.”

Hawaii led by no more than four points in the first half.

The Aztecs led most of the first 15 minutes, but Hawaii overtook them when Jamison drew his third foul on a close blocking call 5:12 left before the half. That sent Terry Houston to the line, and he made one of two free throws to tie the game, 23-23.

Jamison was removed for the rest of the half, and Hawaii outscored the Aztecs during that stretch, 12-7.

Otherwise, SDSU played Hawaii even in the half. The Aztecs led by as many as five twice, the last time coming with 14:36 left in the half when Best stole the ball at midcourt and threw a nice lead pass that Arthur Massey turned into a layup to make it 12-7.

It was Best’s first start in four games, and he played well in the first half--nine points, two steals and two assists--before finishing with 14 points and five assists. He didn’t have any steals in the second half.

The Aztecs have one tuneup left--Saturday at Colorado State--before the tournament.