Nov. 9, 2007
Final Stats | Quotes | Notes
FRESNO, Calif. - San Diego State (1-0) defeated Liberty (0-1), 62-50, on Friday evening in the opening game of the World Vision Classic presented by Pape'.
SDSU shot 46.7 percent from the field and held Liberty to 34.0 percent shooting. The Aztecs outrebounded Liberty, 32-28, thanks to a game-high seven rebounds from Billy White.
Kyle Spain led the Aztecs with 14 points, while White had 13 points and Lorrenzo Wade had 12. Spain led the team in scoring for the fifth time in his SDSU career.
The game was close early as Liberty led 10-9 with 8:55 left in the first half following a layup by Rell Porter. SDSU then scored six straight points to give SDSU a 15-10 lead following a dunk by White with 5:59 until halftime.
San Diego State outscored Liberty 8-2 in the final two minutes of the period to lead 27-19 at halftime. To open the second half, the Aztecs went on a 16-3 run to lead 43-22 following a jumper by Ryan Amoroso with 12:50 left in the game. Amoroso, playing in his first game as an Aztec, contributed nine points and five rebounds in a starting role.
San Diego State maintained the double digit lead the rest of the game.
With freshmen D.J. Gay and Tim Shelton earning the starting nod, the duo became the 10th and 11th freshmen to start a season-opening game under Steve Fisher and the fifth and sixth under Fisher while at San Diego State. The pair joined Juwan Howard, Jalen Rose, Chris Webber, Jerod Ward, Albert White, Bradley Jackson, Steve Sir, Brandon Heath and Richie Williams as the only freshmen to start a season opener during Fisher's tenure as head coach.
The win improves the Aztecs' record in season-opening games to 7-2 under Fisher and SDSU has now won three consecutive season openers for the first time since doing it in 1999-00, 2000-01 and 2001-02.
Rell Porter led Liberty with 14 points and six rebounds. Anthony Smith added 11 points. Alex McLean grabbed a team-high seven boards.