Troy upsets SDSU in double OT after Aztecs’ heave extends game

At every morning shootaround, even during pregame warmups, often at the end of practices, San Diego State players routinely launch midcourt shots.

This is why.

Miles Byrd drained a 50-footer as the regulation clock hit 0:00 Tuesday night at Viejas Arena to improbably force overtime against Troy, but it still wasn’t enough to beat the pesky Trojans in an absolutely bonkers 108-107 double overtime loss on a night filled with hope (the return of Magoon Gwath) and ultimately despair (a soul- and resume-crushing L).

Troy entered the night at No. 135 in the Kenpom metric, a brutal nonconference home loss in a game where SDSU paid the Trojans in the high five figures for visiting to Viejas Arena without a return date – the kind of loss that keeps you out of the NCAA Tournament.

“If you’re a college basketball fan, you had to love that game,” said coach Brian Dutcher, whose team rallied from 12 down inside four minutes to go in regulation, then blew four-point leads in both overtimes. “But unfortunately, I’m not a college basketball fan. I’m a college coach. So I wasn’t very happy with the result.”

The schedule doesn’t get any easier, either. If the Aztecs can’t win at home against a team picked to finish fourth in the Sun Belt Conference, what’s going to happen Monday when they face No. 7 Michigan in the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas, or Oregon a day later? Or another likely power conference opponent on Wednesday or Thursday?

A scheduling quirk had nine days between games, an eternity this early in the season, leaving the Aztecs as the only team among the 365 in Division I that had played just twice so far.

They looked like they hadn’t played in 90 days. Or maybe 900.

An Aztecs team that was one spot out of the Associated Press top 25 trailed 14-2 out of the gate and still 83-71 deep into the second half against a Troy team coming off, gulp, losses at Loyola Marymont and CSUN in the previous four days, unable to stop its five-out, pace-and-space offense even after seemingly half its roster fouled out and the other half was so fatigued it could barely stand.

The Aztecs looked discombobulated for much of the night, missing free throws, firing a lob pass off the rim, making lazy passes, getting beat backdoor, letting a ball roll around on the floor with no one diving on it, grabbing the rim for defensive goaltending on a missed Troy layup.

And simply hapless and helpless, despite entering the night No. 9 in Kenpom defensive efficiency, to stop a team that managed just 64 points against Furman and 63 against Loyola Marymount.

“I thought offensively, we played well enough,” Dutcher said. “But we don’t win with our offense, we win with our defense. It looked like this game was just racing each other to see who could score the most points, and that’s not Aztecs basketball.”

Added Byrd, who had 24 points but missed what would have been a winning 3 in the closing seconds of the second OT: “We still have a lot of gelling to do as a team. We’re super talented. Obviously a lot of mental slippage tonight. We went away from identity of defense and rebounding. … We have to hone in on who we are as a team. We’re a defense and rebounding culture, and we didn’t show that tonight.”

Gwath was as advertised despite only being cleared for full contact less than two weeks ago following April knee surgery. He finished with 20 points, seven rebounds, two steals and three blocks in 28 minutes off the bench, eight more than they planned to use him.

His 3-point play followed by a corner 3-pointer halved the 12-point deficit and gave the Aztecs a chance with 3½ minutes left in regulation. But after Taj DeGourville bricked a pair of free throws with 1:25 left and had his only turnover (against six assists) on a baseline inbounds pass with 8.6 seconds left, it looked grim.

They were still down three after Troy’s Thomas Dowd made one of two free throws with 2.7 seconds left. The play was for Sean Newman Jr. curling off a screen at midcourt, but when that didn’t materialize, Byrd literally took matters into his own hands – receiving the inbounds pass and taking one dribble before heaving a left-handed shot from the opposite side of midcourt.

Swiiiiiiiiiish.

MILES. BYRD. pic.twitter.com/yIPiBwFN6D

— San Diego State Men's Basketball (@Aztec_MBB) November 19, 2025

“I took it upon myself, sorry coaches,” Byrd said of SDSU’s first halfcourt buzzer beater to tie or win a game since Brandon Health did it in 2006. “I’m very comfortable with that shot. I’m glad I stepped up and drilled it, but it doesn’t really mean much in a grand scheme of things.”

As much as the reactions from both benches indicated otherwise – elation at one, head in hands at the other – it wasn’t over. In fact, after leading by four, the Aztecs still needed a bank shot by Reese Dixon-Waters (16 points) in the closing seconds to force another OT.

The Aztecs were up four again and had the ball in the second OT, then had back-to-back turnovers – an over-and-back violation and an illegal screen – to give the Trojans life. Theo Seng scored inside with 15 seconds left for what proved to be the winning basket, after Byrd’s 3 missed and Newman’s desperation attempt after an offensive rebound was blocked.

The buzzer sounded, and it was the opposite scene from the end of the regulation – the Trojans spilled onto the floor in unbridled euphoria as the remainder of the Viejas Arena crowd silently filed out.

“In pregame today, (assistant coach Scott Campbell) talked about lions that have the most scars are the toughest lions,” Troy coach Scott Cross said. “We went through some adversity at LMU and Northridge, and we got some scars. It’s all about how you respond to that adversity.

“There are so many times that we could have broken. We had the game won with a 10-point lead with a couple of minutes left, and they came back. They hit the half-court shot and put it into overtime. We had guys foul out. We had subs.”

Three players fouled out but one who didn’t, the 6-8 Dowd, had a monster night: 25 points (5 of 9 on 3s) to go with 18 rebounds in 46½ out of a possible 50 minutes.

The Aztecs had five players in double figures, outshot the Trojans 47.1% to 44.4% and a 50-40 margin on the boards. But 14 missed free throws and 20 turnovers were their undoing.

Points off turnovers: 29-15, Trojans.

Ouch.

“We’ve obviously got to watch some film on this one,” Byrd said. “We have to learn on what we have to do better. But we have the (No. 7) team in the country on Monday. As much as you want to sit on this one for the next two weeks, we really can’t. You kind of have to get over it quickly.”

Notable

It was just the seventh time in SDSU’s Div. I era it played in a game where both teams hit triple figures and the first since a 123-103 win against U.S. International on Feb. 27, 1991. It snapped a 29-win streak when scoring 100 or more … The loss ended a three-game SDSU win streak in double overtime. The last such loss was 92-82 against Colorado State on Jan. 24, 2004 … The Aztecs are now 9-2 in their last 11 OT games … The 107 points are the Aztecs’ third most in Viejas Arena history and second most against a Div. I opponent … Pharaoh Compton started at center after Miles Heide, who started the first two games, tweaked an ankle in practice. But Compton played only 10 minutes, seven of which came in the first half … Dutcher was honored before the game for his 200th win as a head coach, which came in the previous game against Idaho State.