Senior guard Matt Bradley scored a season-high 27 points as the San Diego State Aztecs leaned on his strong shooting night to beat Air Force 71-55 on Thursday night at Steve Fisher Court at Viejas Arena. It was the 2022-23 conference opener for each team.
"First of all, Air Force is always a tough game to get ready for," head men's basketball coach Brian Dutcher said, "They're patient, they make you guard for 30 seconds almost every possession, they can shoot the three, so they're dangerous. Then they play switching man where they switch every single screen on the floor. I felt good because we had three good days of practice. I told (our team) that a coach takes comfort if he likes practice going into a game, and I liked practice. I thought we would play well, and we did."
The win was SDSU's 15th straight at Steve Fisher Court, the eighth longest streak in program history, and improved to 31-1 in its last 31 games played at home. In addition, the Aztecs have defeated Air Force for the 16th consecutive time In Viejas Arena and overall is 20-3 in the venue against the Falcons.
Bradley finished the game 9-of-12 from the field, including 6-of-7 from the bonus distance and 3-of-5 from the line. He added three rebounds and an assist and a steal without turning the ball over. He the eighth Aztec, since at least the 1996-97 season, to score at least 25 points without committing a turnover. Of those eight, he played the fewest minutes (31).
"It's always good to see Matt assert himself at the offensive end," Dutcher added. "When that happens, the offense looks better. I look like a better coach, and we look like a better team. So hopefully Matt has hit a little bit of rhythm now heading into the conference and we'll take it on the road. Home teams went 5-0 in the Mountain West tonight. I think you're going to see that this is a (hard conference in which to win on the road) and we're going to go try to do it at UNLV on the 31st."
The Aztecs (10-3, 1-0 Mountain West) started the game off knocking down five of its first six shots to take a 12-2 lead capped off by a Bradley first of a career-high six 3-pointers. With just over 12 minutes left in the half, Bradley continued his hot start when he drove into the lane, beat the first defender, and then acrobatically put the ball in the basket to extend the Aztecs lead to 21-9.
"Yeah, it was a much-needed break," Bradley said of the team's eight-day break between its two most recent games. "During that time a lot of things happened, a lot of good things. That gave me good mojo coming into the game. I got a new puppy, got to spend some time with my family and girlfriend, so coming in I was feeling fresh and rejuvenated. I played free out there."
Air Force (9-5, 0-1 Mountain West) would respond with a 11-4 run of its own to make it a 25-20 San Diego State lead with six minutes to go before the intermission. Bradley would again respond with another triple, his third of the half, to push the Aztecs' advantage to 28-20. After a Jaedon LeDee finished down low on the teams next possession the lead back to double digits, 30-20, with 3:45 left in the half.
Adam Seiko would hit the Aztecs fifth triple of the half, giving San Diego State a 33-20 lead, before taking a 36-23 advantage into the break. Bradley finished the half 3-of-3 from bonus distance and 13 points.
Both teams would find buckets hard to come by to begin the second half, but Bradley put the Aztecs offense into high gear again. He sank a 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions to push the lead to a game-high 19 points, 44-25, with 15:13 left in the game.
The teams would trade buckets over the next few minutes, and each time Air Force would close the gap, SDSU would respond with a triple. First it was Micah Parrish nailing a corner three, before Seiko re-established the 19-point advantage on his second trey of the night to put the Aztecs up 59-40 with 7:58 remaining.
Bradley would sink his sixth and final three with just over four minutes to play, putting SDSU out front 66-47 and from there the Aztecs finished the game with a 71-55 victory.
Up Next: The Aztecs play in Las Vegas, against UNLV, on Saturday at 1 p.m. PT with the game being broadcast on CBS.