FRESNO, Calif. -- In a first half that was as ragged as a chewed dog bone, back-to-back 3’s from Magoon Gwath provided the spark for No. 24 San Diego State as the Aztecs pulled away in the second half to an 84-62 over Fresno State on Wednesday night at Save Mart Center.
Gwath scored a career-high 25 points, making all three of his triples in the first half and then using his length in the second half to own the paint while grabbing 10 rebounds for his first career double-double and swatting a pair of shots.
"After seeing that first three, I felt like that first three got my game going for sure," Gwath said on the SDSU radio postgame show. "It felt good coming off the hands and seeing it go through the net after not hitting after a couple games felt really good. Really good."
The Aztecs (5-2, 1-0 Mountain West Conference) made 57.9% — 22 of 38 — from the field in the final 20 minutes of their first true road game of the season, taking over inside to the tune of a 38 to 16 edge in points in the paint that finished 50 to 26 for the game. The Scarlet and Black outscored the Bulldogs (3-5, 0-1) by a 55-38 margin in the second stanza.
SDSU led by five at the half, then went on a 13-3 run after giving up the first bucket of the second half to take control.
"(The) five point lead, we expanded, we did a good job and took care of the ball for the most part, they tried to press us a lot and we did a decent job against," said head coach Brian Dutcher on the SDSU radio postgame show. "To get out of here with the win score 55 in the second half was pretty good effort, no question."
The turning point moments came on back-to-back triples.
First BJ Davis knocked down a tough rise-fire-fill from the top of the key over his defender, then after a Bulldog contested miss on the defensive end Wayne McKinney III pulled up in transition on the right wing and ripped the strings to push the lead out to 42-29 with nearly six minutes played.
Both were limited in the first half, with Davis making just 1 of 3 before coming to life with solid plays on the defensive end sparking 11 of his 13 points in the second half to go with seven rebounds and three assists. McKinney played just three minutes due to two first half fouls, then scored 12 in the second half while making a pair of 3’s.
Spurts of 6-0 and 9-2 built the lead to 20 points with 7:35 remaining, then down the stretch Gwath had dunks on back-to-back possessions for an exclamation point.
"I was pleased with how the bench responded. And like I said, you know, you get a lead, sometimes you get sloppy and lazy — I thought we did a good job keeping the foot on the pedal," Dutcher said.
SDSU finished with a 53-39 edge on rebounds and did not allow Fresno State to make field goals back-to-back until the 10 minute mark of the second half. The Aztecs won the bench scoring battle 29-19.
Miles Byrd and Pharaoh Compton each added 9 points, with Byrd snatching 10 rebounds and swiping two steals. Nick Boyd scored 6 points, but despite a tough shooting night dealt a game-best four assists.
The first half was rough for both sides, as the Aztecs went 11 of 30 from the field while holding Fresno State to 7 of 33 and 2 of 13 from downtown.
The Bulldogs made just 27.3% from the field for the game, making 18 of 66. Forward Mykell Robinson had 20 points and 10 rebounds, while guard Zaon Collins had 10 points on 3-of-8 shooting. Top scorer guard Amar Aguillard finished with just 5 points and went 1 of 10 from the field.
SDSU returns home to host University of San Diego at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 7 at Viejas Arena. It's the first time the Toreros (3-5) will be visiting The Mesa in six years, when they upended the Scarlet and Black 73-61 on December 5, 2018 — the Aztecs won the most recent meeting 66-49 at Jenny Craig Pavilion on November 20, 2019.
This story was updated at 10:48 p.m.