Aztecs defeat Nevada 80-61 on Senior Night
Credit: Don De Mars/EVT Sports
The Aztecs cruised to a much-needed victory over Nevada in front of a sold-out White-Out crowd
The San Diego State Aztecs and Nevada Wolf Pack met at Viejas Arena for Senior Night and the regular season finale. Jared Coleman-Jones, Wayne McKinney III, Kimo Ferrari, Desai Lopez, Demarshay Johnson Jr, and Ryan Schwarz were all honored ahead of tip-off.
San Diego State stormed out to a big lead early and never looked back. Many players contributed in the bug win.
“A good team victory tonight,” head coach Brian Dutcher said postgame. “We wanted to make sure we established our defensive pressure right away. They are a really good offensive team; they run good stuff. So, anything we could do to disrupt the timing a little bit, we tried to do. Pressure the ball, so the passes weren’t on time, and we did a good job in the first half of that. We created some turnovers that led to fast-break baskets. We played a good offensive game and, shot over 50% from the field and had 19 assists. A good offensive performance with a good defense, and you come out here with a nice team victory.”
San Diego State improved to 21-8 on the season and ended 14-6 in conference play. They will be the 4th seed in the Mountain West Tournament and will take on Boise State for the third time. SDSU is 2-0 against the Broncos this season.
Nick Boyd started the scoring with a pull-up jumper. Miles Heide and Coleman-Jones followed up with buckets, and the Aztecs led 6-4 with 15:48 remaining in the first half.
At the first TV timeout, legendary radio play-by-play broadcaster Ted Leitner was also honored in his final game.
McKinney III came off the bench and scored seven quick points, and Heide found his groove with another score in the paint. SDSU led 15-7.
After the Wolf Pack’s third turnover of the game, BJ Davis scored in transition to take a 10-point lead. Steve Alford called his first timeout for Nevada.
SDSU kept the pressure. Nevada had a hard time getting shots off as they turned it over for a 5th time, leading to more Aztec points. San Diego State did not turn the ball over once to this point.
Miles Byrd’s first points of the night came on a deep three to give SDSU a 16-point advantage. SDSU did not commit their first turnover of the contest until the 7:15 mark when Boyd stepped out of bounds on a pass attempt.
The Aztecs could not miss. They played one of their better halves of the entire season in front of their home crowd. On Senior Night, the Scarlet & Black started 4-10 from beyond the arc and saw their lead reach 22 points, 32-10. The Wolf Pack had a very difficult time scoring at just 21.4% for the game to this point.
The Aztecs were playing great team basketball. They controlled the boards, assisted on eight baskets, and stole the ball five times. SDSU led 39-13 with 3:39 remaining in the half. The Aztecs had a stretch in the half where they scored on 13 of 16 shot attempts.
The final minutes of the half didn’t affect the outcome. Johnson Jr. earned seven first-half minutes and, scored on an alley-oo,p and had four points, one board, and one block.
WATCH YOUR HEAD @ShayJohnsonJr11
@CBBonFOX pic.twitter.com/bqE5T1Tr7l
— San Diego State Men’s Basketball (@Aztec_MBB) March 9, 2025
Boyd led with 12 points as the Aztecs shot 60% from the field in the first 20 minutes.
San Diego State led 43-21. Nevada needed a miracle to come back.
The Aztecs started the second half with their foot firmly on the gas pedal. Byrd nailed a triple right away, and they scored nine points and led by as much as 26 points. Nick Davidson ended the small run with a three-pointer of his own to give Nevada a quick eight second-half points as well.
San Diego State understood that a massive win was necessary for metrics to be on their side heading into the Mountain West Tournament.
Nevada didn’t want that to happen. They started to find a rhythm midway through the half. The Wolf Pack converted on six of seven shots and had an opportunity to trim their deficit to 20 points or under. 11:52 remained, and SDSU led 58-36.
Nevada scored as many points as they did in the first half of the second half, as they did in the entire first half. They did not want to be blown out away from home and found a way to trim the deficit almost in half. SDSU led 59-45 with just under 10 minutes remaining. They went on an 11-1 run, ended by Heide at the free throw line.
SDSU needed to figure something out quickly. Hitting free throws was an important factor in finishing this game.
Out of the inbound pass, Boyd hit a clutch triple at the end of the shot clock to give his team the late momentum.
Tyler Rolison was huge for the Wolf Pack. He reached 19 points on 6-12 shooting toward the end of the game. He was a huge reason for Nevada’s second-half success offensively. Davidson had 16.
JCJ, on Senior Night, put the nail in the coffin with a triple in transition to put his team back up 21 points. With under four minutes remaining, Nevada’s chances of coming back were over.
JCJ from downtown!
— San Diego State Men’s Basketball (@Aztec_MBB) March 9, 2025
The Aztecs cruised to a victory from there.
Kimo Ferrari entered the game with 3:40 remaining.
With one minute to play, Dutcher put in Desai Lopez and Ryan Schwarz to give them one last ride in their final home game in the Scarlet & Black.
McKinney III was asked postgame on what it meant to be honored for Senior Night, along with his fellow seniors.
“It was amazing,” he said. “It was great to be honored for all our hard work and how we have helped the program. Going into the night, it was just ‘fight hard, play hard.’ The guys played really hard for us and we got the win.”
Kimo Ferrari responded later on about playing alongside McKinney III and Coleman-Jones, who are two seniors with experience and leadership.
“It’s great,” he said. “I mean, you see it on the court; they are a steady force. Definitely have a lot of experience with these guys. When the going gets tough, we can lean on these two. These are just two of many. We have a lot of guys on the court we can lean on. March is tough, and we need to lean on each other.”
News & Stats
- Heide hit his first career three-pointer in the second half en route to a career-high of 14 points
- Boyd ended with 18 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal
- Pharaoh Compton had 13 off the bench
- Byrd had 8 points, 6 boards, 5 assists, 3 steals
- Davis scored 10 with 4 boards and 2 steals
- SDSU shot 54.4% from the floor and 38.5% from deep
- Rolison and Davidson combined to score 35 points for the Wolf Pack
Chris is a graduate of the University of San Diego. He is the former Sports Editor for the USDVista newspaper. Chris has covered the San Diego Loyal, and now covers San Diego State Men’s Basketball. He also contributes regularly about the Padres. Chris is an athlete and is a huge fan of San Diego sports.