SAN DIEGO — When the Mountain West agreed to a new television contract with CBS and Fox Sports, it allowed them to schedule games six days a week on one condition: Teams wouldn’t have to play twice within 48 hours except in the conference tournament.
That went out the window with the global pandemic, and the result Saturday was an ugly game with a 1 p.m. tip following a taxing Thursday night overtime affair.
No problem. San Diego State can win ugly, too.
The No. 22 Aztecs held off Boise State, 62-58, at Viejas Arena for their 10th straight victory, putting them one win — Wednesday night at UNLV — from repeating as Mountain West regular-season champions. But just like Thursday, it wasn’t easy.
The key basket came with the Aztecs leading by one and 1:33 left, when 6-foot-10 Nathan Mensah had 6-2 guard RayJ Dennis switched on him and Matt Mitchell found Mensah over the top for an easy basket.
After the teams traded missed 3s, the Broncos pulled within a point on a layup by Devonaire Doutrive with 16.3 seconds left. From there, it became a matter of making free throws. Jordan Schakel went 4 of 4 (none touched the rim) and Mitchell 2 of 2.
The Broncos twice had the ball down 3 inside 10 seconds to go, and twice Aztecs coach Brian Dutcher opted to have his team purposely foul instead of allowing a potentially tying basket.
Schakel finished with 17 points despite battling foul trouble most of the afternoon, picking up his third moments into the second half. But he made back-to-back 3s that gave the Aztecs (19-4, 13-3) an eight-point cushion with nine minutes to go that they nearly squandered when the Broncos started making contested 3s themselves.
No one else reached double figures on a day when neither team shot over 40% , were a combined 10 of 44 behind the arc and had more turnovers than baskets in the first half.
Boise State’s Derrick Alston, who had 29 points Thursday, was held to seven points (and five turnovers) on 2-of-12 shooting. He went from making six 3s to being 1 of 9.
What should have been a showcase for the conference's top two teams became a slog of clearly tired players. The halftime score was 24-20 after the teams combined for 18 baskets and 19 turnovers while shooting a combined 4 of 26 behind the arc. No one on either team had more than five points at intermission.
As it customary on “Senior Day,” SDSU started all its seniors, which meant Maryland grad transfer Joshua Tomaic started in place of Mensah. Tomaic responded with seven points (3 of 3 shooting) and four rebounds in 19 minutes.
The Broncos (18-6, 14-5) did lead after never managing that in 45 minutes Thursday, 2-0 on a floater in the lane by guard Marcus Shaver, who was scoreless in the first game and had 13 Saturday. The Aztecs quickly pulled ahead but never could get separation. The four-point halftime margin came on a pair of baskets by Trey Pulliam in the final minute.
Terrell Gomez got going in the second half and back-to-back-to-back baskets helped the Aztecs get a nine-point lead. They had two possessions to push it into double figures but couldn’t, and Boise State took advantage to pull within a point thanks to a 10-2 run.
