Oct. 17, 2008
SAN DIEGO -
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| No. 4: San Diego State 73, New Mexico 66 |
February 25, 2006 | Recap | Stats | Notes
Having not won a regular-season conference title since 1978, San Diego State was presented with an opportunity to claim at least a share of the Mountain West Conference regular-season crown in 2006. The catch was that it had to travel to The Pit where many opponents, including the Aztecs, had not experienced much success against the Lobos.
Why it was memorable: Looking to prevent its first two-game losing streak of the season, San Diego State hit the road for a matchup against New Mexico with all odds stacked against them. Despite defeating the Lobos earlier in the year at Cox Arena, the Aztecs were in search of at least a share of the MWC crown, but to do so, SDSU had to beat New Mexico in a place where it had only won four previous times. The Scarlet and Black was also seeking just its fifth sweep of the Lobos in school history. It would take a herculean effort to get the job done.
The first half ended in a 31-31 stalemate with Brandon Heath's 12 points, including three 3-pointers, leading the Aztecs and Joel Box's 14 points and 10 rebounds keeping New Mexico in the game.
San Diego State, however, took control when Heath caught fire and connected on five 3-pointers and scored 17 points overall in the first six minutes of the second half. His first set of back-to-back treys at the 18:37 mark gave the Aztecs a 37-32 lead and an advantage it would not relinquish. Later in the game, he turned the trick again to put SDSU ahead 53-43 with just over 14 minutes to play.
New Mexico, playing in front of 14,163 home fans, chipped away at the Aztecs' lead, but would get no closer than five points the rest of the way. San Diego State certainly did its part in keeping the Cherry and Silver at bay the whole second half as it shot 50 percent from the field, 54.5 percent from behind the arc and 72.7 percent from the charity stripe, while limiting New Mexico to under 38 percent from both the field and bonus distance and 54.5 percent from the line.
Heath, who provided the herculean effort, finished the game with 32 points on a career-high eight 3-pointers and added a game-high six assists. Marcus Slaughter posted a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds and held Box to just three points and three rebounds in the second half, while Mohamed Abukar contributed 15 points and seven boards. The Aztecs won the game 73-66.