Byrd leads Aztecs in season opening victory over UC San Diego

On the back of a career performance from Miles Byrd, San Diego State opened their season with a 63-58 victory over UC San Diego on Wednesday night. In his first career start, the sophomore recorded career highs in points, field goals, three-pointers, steals and matched his career high in blocks.

SDSU (1-0) has now won 14 straight games against UCSD (0-1) and 13 straight on its home floor against the Tritons. The win also marks their 18th in a row in home openers against unranked opponents.

Byrd filled stat sheet with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting and 4-of-6 from three with eight rebounds, five steals and four blocks. He is the first Aztec with that stat line since at least 1996-97 and just the second to do so in the NCAA over the last decade.

Magoon Gwath started the night with his first career block on the first possession of the game which quickly led to a Nick Boyd layup on the other end for the game’s first basket. Gwath added a second block minutes later giving him a pair before the first media timeout on his way to three total for his official debut.

The Aztecs were slow to build on the early excitement though making just two of their first 11 field goal attempts heading into a timeout on the floor. However, they came out of the quick break on a 10-0 run while holding UC San Diego to 0-for-12 from the field in that same stretch until the eight and a half minute mark.

UC San Diego would battle back, closing out the first on a 10-3 run reducing the Aztec lead to just two points through the first 20 minutes.

The Tritons carried their momentum early into the second half claiming the lead within the first two minutes, but the Scarlet and Black answered with eight straight points. UCSD quickly responded with seven straight of their own to take the lead right back.

With just under nine minutes left in the contest, Byrd took over, made three field goals to spark a 13-2 scoring run and put the Aztecs back out in front.

San Diego State reclaimed the lead with 5:26 left in the contest and never looked back, holding on for the season opening win. With the defense holding the Tritons to just 58 points, it is the 21st consecutive victory when holding the opponent between 50-59 points.

The starting backcourt of Nick Boyd and BJ Davis recorded 11 points apiece in their first official starts on The Mesa while Jared Coleman-Jones added nine points along with nine boards.

UC San Diego’s Tyler McGhie led all scorers with 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting. Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones added 13 for the Tritons.

The Aztecs will be back in action next week hosting Occidental College on Tuesday, Nov. 12 at Steve Fisher Court at Viejas Arena. The game will be streamed live on Yurview and the Mountain West Network.

THE NOTE
San Diego State is now 160-12 when leading with 5:00 left in the game in the Brian Dutcher era. The Aztecs are also 92-7 when holding their opponent to less than 60 points.