SAN DIEGO – Reese Dixon-Waters scored 15 points in his return to the court for the first time since the 2023-24 season to lead San Diego State past Idaho State 73-57 on Sunday afternoon on Steve Fisher Court at Viejas Arena.
San Diego State (2-0) remains unbeaten and is now off until a home game against Troy on November 18.
Idaho State (2-1) suffers the first loss of its season and will look to get back in the win column at Seattle U on November 15.
San Diego State scored the first seven points of the game, with five coming from Reese Dixon-Waters.
After the Bengals got within four points with five minutes to go in the first half, Jeremiah Oden responded by scoring the next seven points on a pair of free throws, a dunk and a three-pointer to put the Aztecs back up by 11 points with 2:30 remaining.
Freshmen Elzie Harrington and Tae Simmons scored the final five points of the half, coming on a three-pointer and dunk, to send the Aztecs into the break with a 34-21 advantage.
SDSU opened the second half with a 14-5 run, including the first six points of the half, to go up 48-26 with 16 minutes to go in the game.
The Bengals got within 16 points with three minutes left before a pair of Pharaoh Compton dunks extended the Aztec lead back up to 20.
In addition to Dixon-Waters’ 15 points and six rebounds, Compton had 14 points and a pair of blocks and Jeremiah Oden reached double figures for the first time with the Scarlet and Black with 13 points. Miles Byrd finished with six assists and six steals to lead the team.
The Bengals were led by Connor Hollenbeck (17 points), Jamison Guerra (seven points, six assists), Cheikh Sow (five points, five rebounds) and Caleb Van De Griend (eight points, five rebounds).
San Diego State shot better from the field (59.2%-44.4%), three-point range (35.3%-33.3%) and the free throw line (75.0%-71.4%). SDSU had more assists (17-12), steals (11-6) and blocks (5-0). The Aztecs also scored more points in the paint (40-22) and off turnovers (30-12).
THE NOTE I
Brian Dutcher earned the 200th win of his career.
THE NOTE II
After limiting Long Beach State to 20 points in the second half in the season opener, San Diego State held the Bengals to 21 points in the first half on Sunday. It marked the first time SDSU held its opponent to 21 points or fewer in consecutive halves since the 2019-20 season, when the Aztecs held Nevada to 20 points in the second half on January 18, 2020, before keeping Wyoming to 19 in the first half on January 21 of that season.
UP NEXT
San Diego State is back in action on November 18, when it will play the Troy Trojans at Viejas Arena at 7 p.m. PT.