Nov. 20, 2007
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SAN DIEGO (AP) -Steve Fisher's San Diego State Aztecs are 5-0 for the second straight year, thanks to another win in their crosstown rivalry with San Diego.
Lorrenzo Wade scored six straight points during the decisive stretch and finished with 14 to lead the Aztecs to a 69-64 win over the Toreros Monday night. SDSU beat USD for the fifth time in six games.
"You go into someone else's building, even though it's only a five-mile drive, and that's an accomplishment," Fisher said.
Four of the Aztecs' five wins have come away from home.
"In a hostile environment like this, we had to come out and play tough defense," Wade said.
USD fell to 2-2 under first-year coach Bill Grier despite getting 20 points apiece from Brandon Johnson and Gyno Pomare in the sloppy but intense game. Pomare also had 10 rebounds.
Johnson had 16 points at halftime, including four 3-pointers, but was shut down in the second half. He committed eight of USD's 25 turnovers. SDSU had 15 steals.
"We felt coming in we had to take care of the ball," Grier said. "If you had told me that we would shoot 48 percent and outrebound them, I would have thought we would win."
USD outrebounded the Aztecs 33-19.
Wade said the Aztecs did a better job in the second half of not giving Johnson so many open shots.
"In the first half he came off a lot of triple screens," Wade said. "We wanted to put as much pressure on him as possible."
Said Grier: "He was worn down. They did a good job of wearing him down by just constantly pressuring him."
Trailing 46-43 midway through the second half, the Aztecs went on a 13-2 run to take control. The run started with a 3-pointer by Kyle Spain and ended with eight straight points, including a slam dunk, a free throw and a 3-pointer by Wade to give SDSU a 56-48 lead with 7:30 to go.
The Aztecs extended the lead to 66-56 on two free throws by Spain with 1:26 left.
Spain finished with 11 points and Ryan Amoroso and Kelvin Davis had 10 apiece.
SDSU led 38-34 at halftime.