SAN DIEGO_Brian Dutcher said all season that his goal, like any coach if he's being honest, is to have his San Diego State basketball team playing its best basketball in March.
The Aztecs have had their tribulations in his rookie year as head coach, but give them this much: It's March, and they're playing their best basketball.
By a mile.
They have won six straight now, the latest victim being No. 21 Nevada 79-74 at an electric Viejas Arena on Senior Night. Win three more, and they're in the NCAA Tournament.
The result Saturday had little bearing on the top of the Mountain West standings. Nevada (26-6, 15-3) had already clinched the regular-season title when the Aztecs knocked off second-place Boise State on Tuesday.
It did, however, shuffle the middle of the deck and elevated SDSU (19-10, 11-7) into a tie for fourth place with Fresno State _ and, more importantly, out of sixth place and a dreaded play-in game at the conference tournament next week in Las Vegas.
Instead, the Aztecs will play Fresno State _ which beat them twice but lost starting guard Jaron Hopkins to a foot injury _ on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. in the quarterfinals. Wyoming, which lost at Boise State earlier Saturday, drops to sixth and a Wednesday game against last-place San Jose State.
It also means the two teams that played a high-level college game Saturday night in Viejas Arena could do it again Friday night in the semifinals at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Two things needed to happen to get SDSU out of an extra game Wednesday. The first happened right around tip-off at Viejas _ a 95-87 Boise State win on its Senior Night, despite just 11 points in a foul-plagued 21 minutes from conference player of the year candidate Chandler Hutchison. (The Broncos got a combined 46 points from fellow seniors Chris Sengfelder and Lexus Williams to rope the Cowboys.)
That left it up to the Aztecs. It wasn't so much that they delivered, but who delivered:
Kameron Rooks.
Remember him?
The 7-foot-1 fifth-year transfer from Cal started the season's first 11 games but had slipped farther and farther down the bench as 6-10 freshman Jalen McDaniels emerged. Dutcher returned Rooks to the starting lineup Saturday alongside Trey Kell and Malik Pope, a tradition on Senior Night, and McDaniels came off the bench.
And what happens?
Rooks, who had played 10 total minutes in the last six games, had already logged 15 minutes early in the second half and 12 points, six rebounds and three blocks before he left with foul trouble.
His fellow seniors also were up for the occasion. Kell finished with 17 points, five rebounds and nine assists in his final game at Viejas. Pope had 16 points and five rebounds.
Nevada was led by Jordan Caroline's 29 points. Cody Martin added 22 points and nine rebounds.
The Aztecs led 15-9 before Nevada ripped off a 13-0 run and eventually pushed the lead to 10. Then SDSU closed the half with a 12-0 run of its own to lead 36-34 at the half on a Rooks tip-in at the buzzer.
The margin grew to 11 midway through the second half before Jordan Caroline and Cody Martin brought the Wolf Pack back within two inside a minute to go. Dutcher called timeout and got the ball to Kell, his trusted senior, at the top. With the shot clock running down, he drained a contested 19-footer to make it 76-72.
After Pope missed two free throws, referee Tommy Nunez whistled a (questionable) double dribble on Nevada's Kendall Stephens with 16.8 seconds. A free throw by Pope and two more by Kell sealed it.
