Nov. 10, 2006
MORAGA, Calif. - Final Score: San Diego State 87, Murray State 84
Shamrock Invitational (Moraga, Calif.)
SDSU Record: 1-0
Up Next: at Saint Mary's; Saturday, Nov. 11; 7:30 p.m. PT
San Diego State has lost its last two games against Saint Mary's and has not defeated the Gaels since Nov. 28, 1983. Saint Mary's leads the all-time series 3-2. The Aztecs have opened a season with a 2-0 record only twice in the last 10 seasons.
With the Victory...
• San Diego State extended several regular-season winning streaks, including: (includes conference tournament games but not the NCAA tournament)
* 7-game overall winning streak
* 5-game road or neutral winning streak
* 5-game neutral court winning streak
* 3-game non-conference winning streak
• In all games dating back to last season, the Aztecs have won seven of their last eight (7-1), 17 of their last 20 (17-3) and 19 of their last 23 (19-4).
• The 87 points were the most in a season-opener for the Aztecs since SDSU defeated UC Irvine 100-88 on Nov. 22, 1996.
Buzzer Beater
Brandon Heath's game-winning shot with time expiring is the first since Chris Walton hit a six-foot jumper as time expired at Brigham Young on Jan. 8, 2005. It is the 15th game-winning or game-tying shot for the Aztecs during the Steve Fisher era.
SDSU Follows NCAA Trip with Victory for First Time in 38 Years
San Diego State followed a trip to the NCAA Tournament by winning the season-opening game the next year for the first time in school history... The Aztecs snapped a streak of four consecutive losses following a Big Dance appearance in the Division I era... The last time SDSU was able to follow an NCAA trip with a victory was in 1968 when the `67-68 squad advanced to the NCAA Division II sub-regional championship game and the 1968-69 team opened with a victory at Whittier College.
Good in Lidlifters
With the win, the Aztecs improve to 6-2 in season openers under Steve Fisher and now have won two consecutive lidlifters... It is the first time since the 2000-01 and 2001-02 campaigns that San Diego State has won consecutive season openers... Fisher improves to 13-3 in season-opening games in his career, while SDSU is 19-18 in season openers in the Division I era and 54-32 in school history.
Once Maybe, Twice Rarely
After losing to Indiana in last year's NCAA Tournament, San Diego State has now responded from its last six losses with a victory. The Aztecs improve to 10-1 in the game following their last 11 losses.
Back at .500
Fisher is back at .500 for his career at San Diego State for just the third time. He was 1-1 in his first season and 105-105 following the 2006 Mountain West Conference championship game. He will look to climb above .500 for the second time at SDSU on Saturday night at Saint Mary's. Fisher has held a winning record only once at SDSU and that was after his 73-57 victory over UC Riverside on Nov. 24, 1999.
Individual Players
Brandon Heath (27 points, 39 minutes, 5 rebounds, 3 assists)
Brandon Heath scored a game-high 27 points, it marked the 80th double-figure scoring game of his career and the 39th time the Wooden Award candidate had 20 or more points in a contest... It marked his 26th consecutive double-digit scoring game, the fifth longest streak in school history (stat kept since 1975-76). If he can score at least 10 points tomorrow, Heath will match Michael Cage's longest streak of 27 games, for fourth on the SDSU career chart. He now has 1,579 career points.
Heath, made a steal and a subsequent half-court shot in the final seconds to break an 84-84 tie, recorded his seventh career clutch game winning/tying shot of his career.
Heath was 5-of-10 from three-point range, it marks the 12th consecutive game that he has had multiple three-point field goals.
Since the beginning of last season, SDSU is 14-4 when Heath scores 20 or more points in a game, 17-5 when he has more assists than turnovers (three assists, one turnover tonight), 14-0 when he has at least four rebounds (five tonight) and 12-3 when he shoots 50 percent or better from bonus distance.
Mohamed Abukar (15 points, 7-8 FTs, 32 minutes)
Mohamed Abukar scored in double figures for the 14th straight games when there was no game the day before... He connected on 7-of-8 free throws against the Racers.
Lorrenzo Wade (11 points, 4 rebounds, 32 minutes)
Playing in his first game since April 2, 2005, Wade played a career-high 32 minutes (previous high was 21 minutes)... He scored 11 points and connected on 4-of-8 shots from the field... Wade recorded his fourth career double-digit scoring game and was just three points shy of his career high.
Kyle Spain (15 points, 4 rebounds, 24 minutes)
Returning from a sprained right foot, Spain scored 15 points off the bench and added four boards and an assist.
Richie Williams (8 points, 8 assists, 40 minutes)
Williams played every minute of tonight's game... He had a game-high eight assists and added eight points on 3-of-4 shooting.