SAN DIEGO – After a dominant effort from the opening five and more than two point runs in the second half, the San Diego State Aztecs pulled away with a 102-78 win over the Cal State Fullerton Titans on Tuesday night at Viejas Arena.
Before the season, head coach Brian Dutcher pointed to starting the game with three guards as a key for the Aztecs’ prospects. Against the Titans, the backcourt looked like Godzilla’s monster King Gidorah, with each of his three heads helping to devastate the CSF defense.
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It was Latrell Davis, 25 points in his debut season at SDSU, the ninth hour with 20 more in the career, thanks to 5-of-7 shooting 3. Elzie Harrington roared in the middle of life, scoring 9 of his 15 points after the break, and Chance Happy from the game high 8 assists, which is the third – most in the game composed in the career.
He benefited from having powerful performances inside from forward Bear Cherry and Tae Simmons. The fifth-year San Diego native scored 15 points with 7 rebounds and 4 blocks, while Simmons chipped in 14 points and 11 rebounds with 2 steals. Luca Vincini’s plan was cut into 10 points and 7 tables.
After clawing their way to an 11-point lead at halftime, a bit of luck from Harrington’s goal-bound effort at Ceras in the morning sparked the Aztecs’ strongest run of the game.
After Josh Ward and one for CSF, Harrington kicked off an 11-0 run by scoring 7 points in a row. Then back-to-back jams got the crowd roaring as Simmons pulled through the paint to throw it down and then on a fast break Davis lobbed it to Cherry for a layup and forced the Titans to take a game-high 19-point lead.
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After a breather, Cal State Fullerton responded with a 10-0 run, using a defense that gave the Titans too easy a 3-point basket. Although pulling back to within double-digits, it only served to be a delay, as SDSU ripped off another big run, pulling away 12.
Inside attempts by Davis and Isaiah Sy to hit from the outside, with Simmons and a pair of Vincini in the paint pushed the lead to 20. Sy finished with 12 points and made two triples and made all six free throws.
Much of the opening 20 minutes was worked out at a herky-jerky clip as SDSU was in a good 30 seconds before halftime.
In the early seasons, he was competing in painting the cherries which led to back-to-back buckets, including one on the base of a nice back-to-back step through. Then the Crimson and Black scored their first 3-pointer from Davis, after the English senior guard scored the first two buckets in the alley-oop.
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But Col. Fullerton State didn’t allow SDSU to build a lead of more than two possessions in the opening stages, fighting back with two 3-pointers and then using Cherry’s head to the bench by scoring four of his buckets in the paint. Back-to-base hits by Malcolm Bell gave the Titans their first lead.
It was part of a 13-2 run by the visitors where Bell responded with a pair of Sy freebies with a triple, then Bailey Nunn knocked in another one to make it 25-19 Titans at the 10:42 mark.
From there, the Aztecs’ driving game helped them get to the line for what ended up being 25 times in the opening 20 minutes, with SDSU down 23.
After Vincini replaced the Aztecs with an elbow, Davis made the third of three first-half 3-pointers to push the lead to multiple possessions. But the game turned upside down at the 3:47 mark as Luka Skorić pulled the ball loose for an offensive tackle for an offensive rebound, prompting Titans head coach Dedrique Taylor to pull away and whistle him for a technical foul.
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After all four free throws fell, Sy made a technical, Davis drove and scored and pushed the lead to 9, then with the last 5 points of the half SDSU held the biggest lead of the game 54-43 at the break.
SDSU finished 27-of-32 from the free throw line and dominated the glass to a 44-26 margin, including 16-10 on offense. It’s the first time the red and black have scored 100 points against a DI school in a non-overtime game when they beat Texas Southern 103-64 in the second game of the 2018-19 season.
The Aztecs will not leave San Diego County until the players participate in the annual Era tournament that begins in Las Vegas, beginning on November 24th.
Next up is the Bill Walton Series against the Colorado Buffaloes, who were picked to finish 15th in the Big 12 conference. Next is a home game against Bethune Cookman on Nov. 11. at Viejas Arena, with Game 4 of the Cancer Classic against New Mexico State at the Frontwave Center in Oceanside, Calif., before rounding out the stretch hosting Texas at Southern on Nov. 18.
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The inaugural Bill Walton Order will sleep at 12:30 pm on Saturday, November 7 at the Pechanga Arena. It’s the same venue — then the Sports Arena — as the last time SDSU and Colorado met, with the Aztecs coming away with a 78-72 victory in the 1975-76 season. The game will be televised on the USA Network, with local radio airing on 760AM KGB.