SAN DIEGO _ You figured the magic had returned to these San Diego State Aztecs after 10 seconds, when reserve forward Nolan Narain, making only his second start in 78 career games for Senior Night, jacked up a 3 from a couple feet behind the arc and the ball rolled completely around the rim once.
And twice.
And three times.
And four times.
And in.
It seemed promising and prophetic, and ultimately it was _ the No. 5 Aztecs rebounding Tuesday night from their only loss of the season to beat Colorado State 66-60 at sold-out Viejas Arena.
It just wasn't nearly as easy as they might have hoped, or expected. They had to work for this.
Really, really had to work.
On a night when Malachi Flynn didn't make a basket for the opening 25 minutes and Yanni Wetzell failed to make a field goal, the Aztecs (27-1, 16-1) needed a 13-0 run late in the game to put away the pesky Rams after trailing by seven points inside eight minutes to go.
Colorado State (19-11, 10-7) was still within two and had the ball with 20 seconds to go, and Isaiah Stevens launched a 3 that was on line.
It was short, though, and Wetzell tied up the rebound. The possession arrow pointed to the Aztecs, and Matt Mitchell was fouled with 9.1 seconds left. He made both free throws for a four-point margin.
Viejas exhaled.
That ended the losing streak at one, but maybe not the questions about the viability of this team in March given two shaky performances at home against teams ranked in the 100s in the NCAA's NET metric.
The game was eerily similar to the Mountain West opener between these teams back on Dec. 4. That game was tied with 14 minutes to go and featured a 10-0 Aztecs run over the final three minutes. Wetzell was in foul trouble. The Aztecs also looked out of sorts for much of the night.
Colorado State was shooting over 60% late in the first half before the Aztecs figured out how to stop, or at least slow down, the Rams and figured out that shooting contested 3s wasn't going to get it done on offense.
Flynn led the Aztecs with 17 points, all but two in the second half after missing his first eight shots. Mitchell had 15 and Jordan Schakel had 11 on a night when their team shot 35.2 percent, their second worst all season and the second straight game under 40 percent.
Colorado State, which got 17 points from Nico Carvacho (like Flynn, 15 in the second), wasn't much better at 39.6 percent, but that was after making 14 of 28 attempts in the first half. The Rams shot 28% in the final 20 minutes and were 1 of 10 behind the arc.
The Rams stayed on the court during the Senior Night festivities, instead of retreating to the locker room as most teams do. And once the game finally began, it took them a while to warm up.
The Aztecs raced to an 11-2 lead behind Narain's opening 3, two more 3s from his teammates and a pair of swished free throws from Wetzell after he went 1 of 6 from the line Saturday. The crowd was into it. The Aztecs were into it. The Rams looked shell-shocked.
And then this happened: Colorado State 14, SDSU 11.
The 12-0 run provided a stern message that SDSU's ills weren't magically solved in 2 { minutes. The Rams led by as many as seven points in the half and were shooting 60.9% overall (4 of 7 behind the arc) when coach Brian Dutcher called timeout with 4:01 to go.
The Aztecs closed to 36-34 at the half and took their first lead since the opening minutes when Schakel scored six points in 36 seconds _ a three-point play off a steal and a 3_ to make it 40-38.
From there, neither team led by more than two until 10 minutes to go after a bizarre sequence turned a 49-47 SDSU lead into a 54-49 CSU lead.
Kris Martin dribbled the ball off Schakel's sneaker, retrieved the ball in the backcourt while fans booed for a violation and found Kendle Moore open for a 3. SDSU's Aguek Arop slammed into Carvacho on the rebound and, after a video review, was assessed a flagrant foul. Carvacho missed both free throws but was fouled again on the ensuing possession and made both.
A couple turnovers and CSU baskets later, and it was 56-49.
Schakel ignited the decisive Aztecs spurt, too, this time with a tip-in. Flynn hit a contested 3, Schakel hit a 3, Flynn made two free throws and Schakel made another 3 for a 13-0 run.
.jpg?w=600)
