SAN DIEGO – San Diego State outscored UCLA 37-28 in the second half but it was not enough as the Aztecs fell 67-60 in Friday night’s exhibition game at Viejas Arena.
Sean Newman Jr. scored the first points of the night for San Diego State on a 3-pointer to end a UCLA run to open the game.
Following UCLA’s Skyy Clark making a layup with 4:03 remaining in the first half, the Aztecs held the Bruins without a field goal for the remainder of the half. During that stretch, Reese Dixon-Waters scored five points, Taj DeGourville made a pair of jumpers and Pharaoh Compton made a layup as the Aztecs trailed 39-23 at the half.
San Diego State scored nine of the first twelve points of the second half to cut the deficit to ten points.
DeGourville scored five points in a 42-second stretch starting with 7:36 remaining in the game and pulled the Aztecs within three points with a free throw twice during that time.
However, the Bruins extended the lead back up to eleven with two minutes left.
Dixon-Waters made a pair of buckets in the final two minutes to get the Aztecs to the 60-point threshold, but SDSU came up short 67-60.
In addition to Dixon-Waters’ 19 points, DeGourville finished in double figures with ten points. Miles Heide pulled down seven rebounds and Miles Byrd and Jeremiah Oden each blocked a pair of shots.
The Bruins were led by Donovan Dent (18 points (4-of-16), three assists, three steals, three turnovers), Clark (13 points, four rebounds) and Trent Perry (ten points, five rebounds, four turnovers).
San Diego State shot better from the field (42.6%-40.8%) while UCLA was better from long distance (41.2%-21.7%) and the charity stripe (87.0%-69.2%). SDSU won the rebounding battle (29-28) and had more blocks (8-3). The Aztecs also scored more points in the paint (26-20) and off the bench (21-15).
THE NOTE
After not playing during the 2024-25 season, Reese Dixon-Waters scored a game-high 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting including going 3-of-8 from beyond the arc.
UP NEXT
San Diego State will face San Diego in its final tune-up on Wednesday, October 29, at 7 p.m. in Viejas Arena. The Aztecs will open the regular season at home against Long Beach State on Tuesday, November 4.