No. 4 seed San Diego State hold to defeat No. 13 seed New Mexico State in Overtime 73-69
By Joel Burdeos
James Snook-USA TODAY Sports
San Diego,CA- The No. 4 seed San Diego State Aztecs hold to defeat No. 13 seed New Mexico State in Overtime 73-69 in the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Aztecs had the game in hand with less then three minutes left in the game, before allowing the Aggies to go on a 14-4 run to tie the game and send it to overtime. The Aztecs lead 60-57 with 16 seconds left in the game and all the Aztecs had to do was make their free-throws to ice the game, until Xavier Thames fumbled the inbound pass out of bounds giving New Mexico State the ball and allowing Kevin Aronis to knock down a 3-pointer to tie the game. The Aztecs outscored the Aggies 13-9 in overtime as the Aztecs defeated New Mexico State 73-69.
The Aztecs got off to a solid start, going on a 12-5 run to start the game and take the lead. The Aggies struggled on offense to start the game, as the Aztecs held the Aggies offense in check and got the Aggies 7-5 center Sim Bhullar in foul trouble and out of the game with two fouls heads to the bench with two fouls midway through the first half. The Aztecs leading 20-12 midway through the first half, finished the half on a 12-8 run to lead the Aggies 32-20 at the half.
The Aztecs would struggle to stop the Aggies to start the second half, as the Aggies went on a 28-10 run to cut the Aztecs lead to 38-40 midway through the second half. The Aztecs would withstand the Aggies run and maintain their lead with a 16-8 run to extend their lead back to double digits at 56-46 with 3:27 left in the game, before allowing the Aggies to comeback and tie the game and send it to overtime.
With the win the Aztecs improve to (30-4) on the year and will face 12th-seeded North Dakota State Saturday in the round of 32. The Aztecs have now become the second team in program history to win 30 games in a season. Despite having to go to overtime the Aztecs never trailed in this game and extended their streak to 119 for wining when leading with 5 minutes left in a game.