SAN DIEGO - The No. 19/20 San Diego State men's basketball team opened their 2022-23 season on Tuesday night at Steve Fisher Court at Viejas Arena with a 102-52 exhibition win over San Diego Christian College.
SDSU had four players in double figures, led by a triumvirate of seniors, Matt Bradley, Keshad Johnson and Jaedon LeDee, who all finished with a team-high 13 points.
In addition to his scoring output, LeDee pulled down a game-high nine rebounds in 16:44 of court time. Johnson was an uber efficient 6-of-7 from the floor, including 1-of-2 from the bonus distance, and he also had four assists and one steal, playing a total of 17:15.
While the Aztecs would go on to dominate the Hawks, it was San Diego Christian who lead 4-2 at the first media timeout. After that San Diego State went on a 15-2 run, highlighted by a LeDee 3-pointe,r to push the lead to 17-6 with just under 12 minutes to go in the half.
A few minutes later, Johnson stretched SDSU's advantage to double-digits when he threw down a ferocious dunk off a pin-point pass from Lamont Butler. The bucket put SDSU 24-14 with 7:58 to go before the intermission, and a 20-7 run to end the half sent the teams to the break with the Aztecs out in front 44-21. Butler and fellow starting point guard combined to dish out 10 assists and commit only four turnovers, while also picking up seven steals and 12 points.
In the second half, San Diego State eliminated all doubt.
On 23-of-35 shooting (65.7 percent), the Aztecs scored 58 points in the final 20 minutes, lead by nine points from both Bradley and Elijah Saunders. Saunders, a freshman who was playing in his first game as an Aztec, was perfect from the floor in the final period, going 4-4 and finishing 5-of-6 for the game. His final bucket of the night was a 3-pointer that stretched the SDSU's lead to 91-41 with 5:36 left to play.
San Diego State would cruise from there, getting valuable court time for all 17 player on the roster and beat San Diego Christian, 102-52.
The Aztecs totaled 24 assists on 38 buckets and scored 38 points on 26 Hawks turnovers. SDSU also had a 43-26 advantage on the boards.
Up Next: The Aztecs will open their regular season on Monday night, when they play host to Cal State Fullerton at 7 p.m. PT in Viejas Arena.
No. 19 Aztecs Cruise to Win Against San Diego Christian
