San Diego State came into Wednesday’s contest against Grand Canyon with a winless record in Arizona.

It was a small sample size of two home games, but the Lopes had the Aztecs’ number with a 4-1 record against SDSU coming into their first meeting this season.

The Aztecs entered Wednesday with an undefeated 7-0 record in conference play and in need of a resume-building win. With Utah State’s loss to UNLV late Tuesday night, the Aztecs were looking to widen the gap at the top. Unfortunately for Coach Dutcher and his squad, they took a gut-wrenching defeat, 70-69.

“GCU got the better of us tonight,” Miles Byrd said after the loss. “I want to give credit to everybody on the team. We held our heads high; a call that’s 50/50 that can go either way just didn’t go our way tonight. We can’t dwell on this.”

Grand Canyon came out firing immediately with an and one from true freshman Efe Demirel. The Aztecs had a true freshman of their own start the game off hot. Elzie Harrington recorded eight quick points against the Lopes. Unfortunately for the Aztecs, Grand Canyon came out firing from beyond the arc. At the first media timeout, the Lopes were 4-of-5 from three-point land. San Diego State was down six.

The Aztecs responded well to the ruckus crowd of GCU. After being down 20-14, SDSU responded with an 8-0 run led by Reese Dixon-Waters. The guard hit a pretty fade-away jumper to force Bryce Drew to call a timeout to try and prevent any more momentum going the Aztecs’ way.

The Aztecs and the Antelopes were in a dog fight the entire first half. The last media break of the first half saw the two teams tied at 28 apiece. San Diego State forced eight turnovers to this point. The main issue for the Aztecs is that they committed nine fouls, giving the Lopes easy points.

The Aztecs took a two-point advantage to the break with a 37-35 lead. Harrington and Dixon-Waters each put up ten points. San Diego State had four players with two fouls at the half. Miles Heide and Pharaoh Compton each had two, forcing Tae Simmons to play center. If the Aztecs were going to take this game, they needed to prevent giving the Lopes open looks from three-point land, as well as limit the fouls.

Coming out of the break, the Aztecs were looking to get an advantage. Grand Canyon did not allow them, as the Lopes took a quick four-point lead. GCU was not missing from deep as they made three more shots from beyond the arc to build a lead. A team that, coming into Wednesday’s contest, was in the bottom 30 in the country in 3-point percentage, was shooting over 50% from deep.

Coach Dutcher spoke on the Lopes’ efficient shooting night from beyond the arc.

“They shot it well; they made six in the first half. A couple of them we did not want to give, but they made hard shots, too. With that being said, we fought all the way to the end.”

San Diego State struggled to find a groove offensively. At the 11-minute mark, they were down 54-47. The Aztecs needed a spark offensively if they were going to make a comeback against the Lopes. Grand Canyon was outrebounding the Aztecs by three. This was a major issue for San Diego State.

At the under-eight-minute timeout, it was Grand Canyon 63-54 with the Aztecs desperate for a run. Harrington was at 17 points. The star freshman was making a case for why he should be the Mountain West Freshman of the Year. Coach Dutcher and his staff needed to stir something up to change the tide in this one.

Dutcher and this gritty Aztecs squad battled all the way back to being down four with less than four minutes to go. Byrd did not help the Aztecs offensively up to this point. The guard, with less than four minutes to go, had not made a single shot from the field.

San Diego State showed signs of life and had taken the lead back with less than a minute to go. The aforementioned Simmons was the spark that ignited it all with an electrifying putback dunk. Along with the dunk, Simmons put back a missed layup by Dixon-Waters to give the Aztecs the lead. San Diego State needed a stop for the win.

A stop they got, as Simmons again came up huge, forcing a turnover. With 7.7 seconds left, BJ Davis went to the line in a one-and-one situation. Davis missed the front end, and Makaih Williams drew a foul on the other end. The Lopes came out victorious as Williams made both free throws on a questionable call. Dixon-Waters had a chance at the buzzer, but his shot banked off the backboard and rimmed out.

“Tae is a great player, I think one thing Dutch always says you can’t teach rebounding and that it’s a skill,” Byrd said postgame. “I think Tae is one of the most skilled players in that aspect in the league. His nose for the ball, his physicality at such a young age, and his athleticism. When he is able to get extended minutes, he is always great. I told him I was proud of him, and he stepped up for us.”

Grand Canyon, in back-to-back games, gave the top two seeds in the conference their first loss.

The lone positive from this heartbreaking loss is that Simmons and Harrington played fantastically. Dutcher spoke about the impressive freshman postgame.

“Tae came in and did a great job, he was good on the glass and physical and aggressive. Elzie had a solid game, and we have two good freshmen in the program. We are excited for their futures here.”

The Aztecs do not have time to dwell on this one.

San Diego State travels to UNLV. The Runnin’ Rebels have played better basketball as of late. Including a win over Utah State on the road Tuesday night.

UNLV and San Diego State face off at 1 PM on CBS this Saturday.

Bryant Thursby

Bryant is an Assistant Coach at Heritage High School. He is a big-time SDSU fanatic and a Padres fan.