Aztecs rout Whittier in rare Monday afternoon game

One of the reasons a basketball program three years removed from the Division I national championship game schedules a Division III team nicknamed the Poets is to provide a soft landing in case things didn’t go so well two days earlier against No. 1-ranked Arizona, which they didn’t.

San Diego State, then, landed in the giant, inflatable crash mattress Monday afternoon at Viejas Arena.

The Aztecs did the two things they couldn’t Saturday night against the Wildcats in a 23-point drubbing in Phoenix, rebounding and scoring their way to an 121-59 victory against President Richard Milhous Nixon’s alma mater, the Whittier College Poets.

The game had a rare weekday 1 p.m. tip to accommodate the Christmas break travel for players from both teams, and this was pretty much over at 1:01, although, to be fair, the Poets did lead 5-4 after Jaden Mathis drained a deep 3.

“I don’t know if you can figure out how to end the game at that point and somebody turn out the lights or something,” Whittier coach Mark Jensen said. “Yeah, but no, I knew that probably wouldn’t last.”

It didn’t.

The Aztecs (7-4) managed just 45 points and 28 rebounds in 40 minutes against the Wildcats. Against the Poets, they already had surpassed both those marks with three minutes left in the first half.

They hit the century mark with 6:55 to go. The walk-ons were in with 4:55 to go.

The 121 points are the most in Viejas Arena’s 29-year history and fourth most at any venue in school history (and the most since 1991). The 62-point margin of victory is the third largest, trailing the 140-37 win against Chapman in 1954 and 118-35 win against Saint Katherine in 2013.

Thirteen different players scored.

The Aztecs had 14 dunks (and missed two others).

The bench outscored the entire Poets team 69-59.

Points in the paint: 84-16.

“I mean, there was an obvious size advantage for us today,” said Aztecs freshman forward Tae Simmons, who had 15 points and seven rebounds in just 11 minutes. “We would kind of be not very smart to not capitalize on that. We have plenty of guys who can finish inside. The whole thing was just get the ball in the post. And to be frank, they didn’t stop it, so why stop going inside? It’s pretty simple.”

Added coach Brian Dutcher: “We basically Arizona-ed them. We got all the rebounds and we dominated in the paint. That was good our guys realized that. With one day (prep), they knew where our strength was and they put it in there. Against zone or man, we threw it inside to our bigs and they produced. And it was all of them.”

Pharaoh Compton had statistically his best game as an Aztec, scoring 10 points in less than two minutes during the first half and finishing with 21 to go with eight rebounds, both career highs.

Jeremiah Oden looked like a guy trying to prove something after Dutcher jumped true Simmons over him in the rotation against Arizona, scoring 10 points in a five-minute shift in the first half, including an angry, flying dunk over two Poets.

Magoon Gwath had 15 points and made his first 3-pointer in six games.

Miles Heide had 12 points on 6 of 6 shooting, four baskets coming on dunks.

Even 7-foot redshirt freshman Thokbor Majak got his first collegiate points after twice missing inside and twice grabbing the offensive rebound.

The Poets shot just 32.2% but did manage to score more points (30) in the first half against the Aztecs than the Division I’s No. 1 team did (28) two days earlier.

It was SDSU’s final nonconference game. Now players break for the holidays, return Dec. 26 and resume the Mountain West schedule on Dec. 30 at San Jose State in their first true road game.

They’ll at least have their palate cleansed from Phoenix’s Mortgage Matchup Center, seeing the ball go through the hoop again, seeing triple digits on the scoreboard, not surrendering second and third and fourth chances on the glass, not having another reminder of a season drowning under the burden of lofty expectations.

Even official Kelly Pfeifer didn’t spoil the proceedings. He worked his first game at Viejas Arena since Dutcher twice won video challenges against his calls on Dec. 3 (and might have won several more had he been allowed more than two) and had a relatively uneventful afternoon.

“We wanted to continue our positive momentum going into a short break, and I think we did that,” Dutcher said. “I think we feel good about ourselves. I think we feel good about where we are as a team right now. And that gives us a chance to be good in the Mountain West.”

Notable

The game was technically an exhibition for Whittier, which remains 7-2/

The Aztecs shot 59.5% and won their 106th straight home game when making at least half their shots.

Taj DeGourville had five points, six rebounds and a career nine assists (against no turnovers).

Mountain West preseason player of the year Miles Byrd had another quiet game, with six points and six rebounds in 19 minutes.

Reese Dixon-Waters, also a preseason all-conference selection, had 10 points but shot 2 of 6, although the Aztecs were +41 points with him on the floor.

Cam Lawin had five points. Fellow walk-on Raymar Gonzales, an Eastlake High School alum, had his first collegiate basket.

The only SDSU player who didn’t score was Sean Newman Jr.

The Poets were led by senior guard Bryce Whitaker, who scored 13 points.