SAN DIEGO — Whether it was his first two years at Wyoming, or the past two seasons with Gonzaga, fans on The Mesa are used to rooting against Graham Ike.
The senior forward scored 20 of his 23 points for the game in the second half as the No. 3/4 Bulldogs (4-0) took advantage of a first half cold snap by San Diego State to create a cushion. The Aztecs (2-1) were then unable to pull closer than eight points in the second half and fell 80-67 at Viejas Arena on Monday night.
“A good early season basketball game for us,” said head coach Brian Dutcher. “Obviously, we wanted to win. We're used to winning games like this, but we ran into a really good Gonzaga team with a lot of experience (and) I think that experience paid off for them.”
Nick Boyd scored a career-high 23 points and grabbed nine rebounds, while BJ Davis scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half. Ryan Nembhard added 19 points with 10 assists for the Zags, who also got 10 first half points from Braden Huff with Ike in foul trouble.
“We didn't execute the game plan to the best of our abilities, and that's, you know, that's what cost us,” Boyd said. “We not really here for moral victories or, you know, to play a game close. We’re here to win, we just didn't do what was asked of us today and we gotta learn from that.”
Gonzaga took control of the game in a stretch where the Scarlet and Black missed 14 of 16 from the field, with the visitors going on a 16-4 run to open a 28-16 lead with 6:05 before halftime and had a 40-31 lead at the break.
Ike was the favored offensive target to start the second half, as he scored six of Gonzaga’s first 11 points with the lead growing to 16 just under three minutes in. Ike finished 7-of-9 from the field and snared nine boards.
“He's a dynamic player, (Ike) does that to everybody,” Dutcher said. “I didn't like all the layups he was getting on the switching of the ball-screen, just to pitch over, drop it in…
“He's a very good player. And I just feel fortunate to have come out on the winning end most of the time. But not this time.”
All the while Nembhard orchestrated the offense, taking what was given to him on ball-screens and regularly either finding the open man or slashing to the basket to score or draw free throws. Nembhard finished 8-for-8 at the charity line, with the Bulldogs making 27-of-31 for the game and SDSU converting 13-of-18.
“Nembhard is an experienced guard, so it's good for me to be matched up against somebody like that and I could really just go back and watch it over and over and over and see the things that I could do or I should have done,” Davis said.
SDSU was out-rebounded, 39 to 33, and while the edge on the offensive glass was 12 to 10 for the Bulldogs – the visitors turned that into a 14-5 advantage in second chance scoring.
“We did some things well, we stopped the fast break, did a few things well offensively, competed at a high level, so it wasn't like everything was broken, but we didn't play well enough to beat a really good team,” Dutcher said.
The Aztecs never led, pulling even twice at 6-6 on a Nick Boyd 3-ball, then again at 12-12 when Wayne McKinney III hit a 3 and then scored an and-one to make it 12-12 at the 14:20 mark. McKinney finished with 11 points, and joined Boyd and Davis in making a pair of triples.
Boyd scored eight of his 11 first half points down the stretch, sparking SDSU to pull within 28-22, but Ryan Nembhard responded by scoring four points and setting up a Dusty Stromer triple to push the lead out to 13.
SDSU shot 31.4% from the field in the opening half and 37.7% for the game. After making three of their first six from downtown, the Aztecs made just one of their last seven attempts from the land of plenty in the half and finished 8-of-25.
Miles Byrd started, one week after injuring his ankle in practice. The sophomore played 21 minutes before cramping up in the second half. Pharaoh Compton also dealt with cramping in the second stanza, finishing with four points and three rebounds in 15 minutes – many spent guarding Ike.
The Aztecs will travel to Las Vegas for their next three games as they’ll take part in the Player’s Era Festival at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Tip off against No. 14/13 Creighton is at 11 a.m. on Nov. 26, then vote receiving Oregon is up next at 1 p.m. on Nov. 27.
“We're playing the best of the best and that's what we need to do and we need to win those games,” Dutcher said. “And that will be our goal – to go to Vegas, use these next six days to get better and look like a different team than we played like today.”