Aztecs lift off, rout struggling Air Force on Space Force Night

AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. — San Diego State’s basketball team has a tradition as pregame warmups conclude of surrounding bouncy forward Pharaoh Compton as he flies down the lane for one of his patented dunks.

Saturday night, they gathered around the blue-painted lane at the Air Force Academy’s Clune Arena, and here came Compton, who spun and … aborted liftoff.

He went back to the top of the key and tried again. Ignition, liftoff, dunk.

And that’s pretty much how the game went. Air Force, still winless in the Mountain West this season, jumped to a 5-0 lead before the Aztecs launched and rocketed away from the Falcons wearing special all-black Space Force uniforms.

The 88-54 win was a welcome change from a year ago, when the Falcons weren’t much better (1-19 in conference) and the Aztecs needed a Wayne McKinney III layup at the overtime buzzer to escape what would have been maybe the worst loss in program history — and almost certainly would have kept them out of the NCAA Tournament.

“The veterans know, they know how hard it was in here last year,” coach Brian Dutcher said. “Also, I’ve tried to tell them we need a greater sense of urgency in February. I’m trying to pick up their urgency in everything we do. If we can stay urgent and play more consecutive possessions, we’ll have a better chance to win.”

It helped that the Falcons didn’t attempt 44 free throws, as they did here last year, but just 12. And that the Aztecs made six 3-pointers in both games but needed 10 fewer attempts (16 compared with 27).

This one was over midway through the first half, when a 23-2 Aztecs run had Air Force interim coach Jon Jordan calling all but one of his allotted timeouts in the game’s opening 14 minutes in a desperate attempt to stem an oncoming tide washing away his sandcastle.

As if 12 first-half turnovers (to one by SDSU) weren’t painful enough, BJ Davis plunged in the dagger at the halftime buzzer when, with the clocking ticking from 3 to 2 to 1, he launched a 3 closer to midcourt than the arc.

Swish.

Dutcher said recently that he wanted “in the worst way” to reach their bye week in first place, and he has. The Aztecs (17-6, 11-2) remain tied atop the Mountain West after Utah State hung on for an 85-83 win at Wyoming later Saturday night.

Now they don’t play for a week, until Saturday against Nevada at Viejas Arena. The plan is to re-evaluate injured starters Magoon Gwath (hip) and Elzie Harrington (leg) sometime midweek in hopes both will be available and game fit for the stretch run.

“It’s all in the doctors’ and trainers’ hands,” Dutcher said. “They’ve got more testing to do, whether they’re scans or MRIs to make sure whatever they want to see on those is where they want to see it. You watch them out there now, they’re walking and moving like they’re ready to play.

“Sometimes, you look at a guy and he’s limping, and you’re thinking, ‘Oh, he’s way, far away.’ You look at these guys shooting and goofing around, they look pretty good. But I want to make sure what’s going on internally is where the doctors want it before I put them back out there.”

Both were in street clothes again Saturday night, and the Aztecs didn’t need them — even with a shortened rotation at 7,067 feet. They were projected as 22-point favorites by the Kenpom metric and led 23-7, 33-13, 59-33 and 72-39.

Temperatures outside were unseasonably high, topping out at 63 degrees in February at 7,000 feet, and the Aztecs obliged with some torrid shooting. Even after a 1-for-5 start, they finished at 60% — their best in conference and highest all season other than the 67.2% against Oregon back in November.

The Falcons (3-20, 0-12), who have now lost 36 of their last 37 conference games, proved the ultimate slump-buster for Davis. The junior guard had been averaging 5.5 points on 26.7% shooting over the four games since missing a late free throw against Grand Canyon, and he shook that off with 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting.

Miles Heide had 13 points — a season high and one shy of his career high — on 6-of-7 shooting, and not all those were around the basket. He swished a 3 from the top of the key, making him 4 of 16 in his three-year career.

Reese Dixon-Waters continued his emphasis on pump-faking and drawing fouls, with half his 12 points coming at the line. Compton had 11 points and four steals — and no fouls for only the third time in his last 35 games. Jeremiah Oden also had 11 points, giving the Aztecs five double-figure scorers. Taj DeGourville had eight points, five assists and two steals.

Miles Byrd was the only starter not in double figures with four points on 2-of-7 shooting, but he didn’t attempt a wild one-handed windmill after his seemingly nightly steal for a breakaway dunk. Instead, he safely (if unspectacularly) stuffed it with two hands, Dutcher’s stated preference.

Little-used 7-foot redshirt freshman Thokbor Majak subbed in with 8:19 to go and filled the stat sheet as well, although maybe not with all the numbers he wanted. He had five rebounds … and four fouls in just under seven minutes.

The two most notable team stats were points in the paint, where the Aztecs scored 52 points; and turnovers, where the visitors committed six while forcing 22, both season bests.

The 22 turnovers were converted into 32 points.

“First of all, they’re a very good basketball team,” said Jordan, the interim coach while the academy investigates allegations involving the treatment of players by the suspended Joe Scott. “That’s a fact. It’s not an excuse, that’s not a rationalization, that’s a fact. They’re very good. They’re long; they really get after us in a unique way.

“If you’re not careful, if you’re not aware of how important that basketball is, you’ll end up with 22 turnovers.”

Notable

The announced attendance was 1,741 in 6,000 capacity Clune Arena but that seemed a bit high. It included a strong contingent of Aztecs fans, some of whom made the trip from San Diego.

• The Falcons were without 6-9 leading scorer Caleb Walker (11.9 points), who warmed up before the game but was ruled out again with an injury. He has now missed six games.

• Oden got a technical foul for taunting after a dunk on the break.

• Instead of rolled-up T-shirts being thrown into the crowd, they’re dropped from the rafters with parachutes attached.

• The officiating crew included Randy McCall, who also worked last year’s 77-76 overtime win here.