Jan. 8, 2005
PROVO, Utah (AP) - Chris Walton pulled down an offensive rebound and scored at the buzzer to lead San Diego State past Brigham Young 59-57 Saturday night.
Walton grabbed the rebound off a miss by Brandon Heath and put up the winning shot. The ball hung on the back of the rim for a moment before rolling in, bringing the home crowd to a shocked silence in the Mountain West Conference opener for both teams.
Marcus Slaughter led San Diego State (7-7, 1-0) with 17 points and six rebounds while Walton came off the bench with 12 points and six rebounds.
Mike Hall led the Cougars (5-10, 0-1 MWC) with 16 points. Austin Ainge added nine points for BYU, but missed the first of a one-and-one situation with 25 seconds to play, giving the ball back to the Aztecs for the final possesion.
Ainge is the son of former NBA player and coach Danny Ainge and Walton is the son of Hall of Famer and broadcaster Bill Walton.
San Diego State was just 7-for-31 in the first half, but shot 58 percent from the floor in the second half to pull out of a nine-point deficit at halftime. Heath kept the Aztecs in the game down the stretch, scoring nine of San Diego States 11 points in the last three minutes and all of his 11 points in the second half.
The win snapped San Diego State's nine-game conference road losing streak.
BYU scored the first 10 points of the game, but only shot 27.3 percent in the first half and 35 percent for the game.
The Cougars outrebounded the Aztecs 47-33 but committed 17 turnovers that turned into 18 San Diego State points.