‘The sky’s the limit for this team’: Aztecs open season with blowout win over Long Beach State

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 would 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” before the game and then watching two other guards get in early foul trouble and two more limp off with leg injuries before returning.

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.

“The sky’s the limit for this team, like I’ve been saying all summer long,” said junior guard Miles Byrd, who had 13 points, eight rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block in 30 minutes. “We can’t get un-levelheaded just because we had one good win at the crib.

“We just have to keep putting the work in.”

It was impressive even without 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 midway through the first half.

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 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 after stepping on someone’s foot.

Not playing was San Jose State transfer guard Latrell Davis, which, given the rapidly dwindling backcourt options, is a pretty clear indication that Dutcher, at least for the time being, plans to redshirt him this season and save his remaining two years of eligibility for a roster not quite so loaded.

But Dutcher remained calm through all the commotion, resisting the temptation to insert the talented Davis, content that the rest of the roster could make it 19 straight wins in season openers against unranked opposition and 59 straight against current 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. No Aztecs true freshman had scored in double figures in his debut in nine seasons, since Jeremy Hemsley had 20 against Illinois State in 2015. They both did it Tuesday night.

Harrington’s line: 13 points, three rebounds, four assists, one steal, one block and one insane flying dunk over half the Beach defense in 25 minutes.

Simmons: 10 points on 4 of 6 shooting, seven rebounds (four offensive), one steal and two putbacks in traffic while drawing a foul in 18 minutes.

That more than compensated for the absence of Dixon-Waters, who was SDSU’s leading scorer in both preseason exhibitions (19 and 17 points) after missing all of last season with a fractured bone in his foot that refused to heal quickly.

“Reese had a hard week,” said Dutcher, who won for the 199th time as head coach. “He got sick, and he missed two (practice) days with illness. He had a scratched cornea, so they got him to the doctor and hopefully it will get better. He came in with sunglasses on, and we’re trying to see how quickly we can get that turned around. Hopefully he’ll be ready to go Sunday (against Idaho State) … and the medication takes effect right away.”

This was tied at 20-20 through 14 minutes, until the game went tilt with a 20-5 Aztecs run to close the half.

It was ignited by a guy who had just two points in the two exhibitions: Miles Heide. The 6-foot-10 junior scored inside, then stripped the ball from Leopold Levillain at midcourt and dribbled the remaining 45 feet to the basket, scored and was fouled.

“It definitely gave us a lot of momentum, so that helped a lot,” Heide said. “They threw a lot of those passes up top, so I was kind of waiting for one just to throw a little lighter.”

Then Byrd caught fire and 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 completely over the backboard in the second. Soon the margin was in the 30s.

“Honestly, like, I know they’re known for good defense, but I was really surprised,” said Syracuse transfer forward Petar Majstorovic, the only Beach player in double figures with 13 points. “They’re always, like, pressuring you, always cutting you off where you wanted to be. They’re a great defensive team.”

In all, five Aztecs finished in double figures. In addition to Byrd, Harrington and Simmons, Heide and DeGourville also had 10 points each.

The hosts shot only 43.3% overall, but that doesn’t matter when you’re 11 of 23 behind the arc from seven different players (even walk-on Cam Lawin hit one) and have a 38-17 margin in bench scoring. And when the opposing team shoots just 32.2% and has 21 turnovers.

Forward Demarshay Johnson Jr., who now goes by Shay and spent the previous four seasons at SDSU, started and won the opening tip for the Beach but finished with two points and one rebound in 15 minutes.

“I’ve been a part of some really, really good teams here at San Diego State,” said second-year Long Beach State coach Chris Acker, who logged five seasons as an assistant on Dutcher’s staff. “I don’t want to take anything away from our national championship (game) team, or even the team that went 30-2, but this is a team that has the potential to, you know, do whatever, control their own destiny down the stretch.

“I’m hoping that they’re able to do that. I’m rooting for San Diego State all the way. And I think they have the potential to make a long run in March.”