Aztecs roll in exhibition win over Cal State San Marcos
San Diego State had 10 different scorers and recorded 17 assists on 32 made field goals.
The San Diego State men’s basketball team opened their 2024-25 season on Wednesday night on Steve Fisher Court at Viejas Arena with a dominant 80-39 victory over Cal State San Marcos.
Three Aztecs scored in double-figures led by Nick Boyd’s game-high 18 points shooting 7-of-8 from the field and 2-of-3 from three. He added three rebounds and three assists to fill the stat sheet. Miles Byrd had 12 points and was a menace on defense with four steals and a block. Pharaoh Compton was the third to reach double digits with 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting.
Wayne McKinney III and BJ Davis each had nine points in the victory while Magoon Gwath recorded seven points, four rebounds and four blocks.
The Aztecs stormed out of the gate on an 11-0 run with the defense recording two steals and two blocks before the first media timeout. Boyd scored the first basket in front the Aztec faithful, nailing a three-pointer from the wing while Cal State San Marcos did not find the bottom of the net for nearly six minutes of action.
San Diego State would separate themselves with a 17-2 scoring run to extend their lead to their lead to 23 points with just over five minutes left in the half.
As the halftime buzzer went off, a tip-in layup from Boyd made it a 46-19 game at the break. Seven Aztecs had points in the box score led by Boyd’s 13. The team shot 18-of-37 (48.6%) and 6-of-19 (31.6%) from three. Defensively, San Diego State forced 15 turnovers including eight steals and four blocks holding the Cougars to 30.6% shooting from the field through the first 20 minutes.
SDSU quickly picked up where they left off outscoring San Marcos 11-4 to begin the second half and never saw their lead drop below 30 from that point on.
After shooting 19 threes in the first half, the Aztecs attacked inside for most of their scoring down the stretch recording 22 of their 34 second half points in the paint. Meanwhile the SDSU defense got even better through the final 20 minutes, holding the Cougars to 5-of-23 from the field and 0-for-7 from beyond the arc.
For the game, San Diego State had 10 different scorers and recorded 17 assists on 32 made field goals. They outrebounded the Cougars 40-29 on the night leading to a 21-5 second chance scoring advantage. They also added 14 steals en route to forcing 22 turnovers.
The Aztecs will play their first regular season game next week when they host UC San Diego on Wednesday Nov. 6. Tip-off will be at 7 p.m. at Steve Fisher Court at Viejas Arena.
