The last time San Diego State opened a men’s basketball season against Long Beach State, in 2010, Kawhi Leonard and the Aztecs trailed by one deep into the second half and needed three 3s by backup guard James Rahon to grind out a nervy road win.
They went on to be ranked as high as No. 4, go 34-3 and reach the Sweet 16.
The Aztecs looked like they were going to need similar heroics Tuesday night in its lid lifter, as media relations folks like to call it, against the Beach at Viejas Arena, losing senior guard Reese Dixon-Waters to what was described as a “corneal abrasion” and then watching two other guards get in early foul trouble and two more limp off with leg injuries.
That merely meant coach Brian Dutcher didn’t have to delicately parcel out playing time while massaging egos on his Mariana Trench-deep roster, and the bench shortened by circumstance delivered a 77-45 win powered by a pair of true freshmen and a typically frenetic defensive effort.
It was impressive even without considering the asterisk of who wasn’t playing – Dixon-Waters and Magoon Gwath, who still hasn’t been cleared for full contact after knee surgery, are both Mountain West preseason all-conference selections. It also invited the imagination to wander about what this team might look like when they are available and Taj DeGourville doesn’t get his third foul in a mere five minutes.
His replacement was BJ Davis, who promptly picked up two fouls himself.
Then Louisiana Tech transfer Sean Newman Jr. collapsed to the floor holding his ankle and limped off.
Then Miles Byrd, who didn’t start one exhibition and didn’t play in the other while battling various injuries, limped off early in the second half with a cramp in his right leg.
Not playing was San Jose State transfer guard Latrell Davis, which, given the rapidly dwindling backcourt options, is a pretty good indication that he plans to redshirt this season and save his remaining two years of eligibility for a roster not quite so deep.
But Dutcher remained calm through all the commotion, content that the rest of the roster could make it 19 straight wins in season openers against unranked opposition and 59 straight against members of the Big West, a conference, if you know your Aztecs history, they were set to join in 2013 while the football team defected to the Big East (before it all fell apart and they crawled back to the Mountain West).
That included freshmen Elzie Harrington and Tae Simmons, who, needless to say, did not look like freshmen. Both had moments in the first half that had the announced crowd of 11,644 erupting to its feet.
Harrington had the dunk of the game, seemingly taking off from, well, Long Beach and flushing a one-handed jam over half the Beach defense. Simmons twice rebounded his own miss against taller players, muscled up a basket and was fouled. (He also swished a corner 3 while falling into the Beach bench.)
By halftime, the duo had combined for 14 points, five rebounds and two assists, contributing to a 20-5 run to close the first half and break open a close game.
How close? It was 20-20 through 13 minutes.
The run was started by a guy who had just two points in the two preseason exhibitions: Miles Heide.
The 6-foot-10 junior scored inside, then stripped the ball from Leopold Levillain and dribbled the remaining 45 feet to the basket, scored and was fouled. Byrd scored the next eight points, and it was suddenly 32-22.
Then the defense took over. Beach players stepped on the baseline three times in the first half and another, trying to avoid a shot blocker, lofted a runner over the backboard in the second. Soon the margin was 25.
Harrington (13 points) and Simmons (10) both finished in double figures. Byrd, the Mountain West preseason player of the year, stuffed the stat sheet with 13 points, eight rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block. Heide and DeGourville also had 10 points each.
The Aztecs shot only 43.3% overall, but that doesn’t matter when you’re 11 of 23 behind the arc (even walk-on Cam Lawin hit one) and have a 38-17 margin in bench points. And when the opposing team shoots just 32.2% and has just one player (Petar Majstorovic with 13) score in double figures.
For second-year Long Beach State coach Chris Acker, it was his first return to Viejas Arena after spending five seasons here as an assistant on Dutcher’s staff. It also was a return for 6-10 forward Demarshay Johnson Jr., who now goes by Shay and spent the previous four seasons at SDSU.
Johnson started and won the opening tip but finished with two points and one rebound in 15 minutes.