SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State Aztecs’ lead never dipped below 12 points in the second half, but Idaho State’s scrappy effort and foul trouble for the bigs meant the 73-57 result needed the kind of grit characteristic of the program's 200 wins under head coach Brian Dutcher.
In his first regular season game on Steve Fisher Court since March 16, 2024, Reese Dixon-Waters led the Aztecs with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting, while Pharaoh Compton had 14 points in just 11 minutes before fouling out and Jeremiah Oden had 13 points.
SDSU (2-0) built leads of 20 points or more three times in the second half, but each time the Bengals (2-1) refused to let the Scarlet and Black completely close the door. Guard Connor Hollenbeck scored a game-high 17 points and had four makes from downtown for Idaho State.
Dixon-Waters delivered an immediate reminder why he has been selected to the preseason All-Mountain West team twice. He knocked down a pair of elbow-extended jumpers, including cashing an and-one before the first media time out as the Scarlet and Black scored the first 7 points of the game, showing his shooting eyes no worse for wear after dealing with a corneal abrasion earlier in the week.
But the Aztecs ran into foul trouble early in the first half, as both Compton and Heide picked up two personals near the midway mark. It forced SDSU to bring in Thokbor Majok at the 9:43 mark of the first half and play just over five minutes, while Tae Simmons also saw nearly 15 minutes of action for the game.
It scuttled the offense for a stretch of just over four minutes, until Dixon-Waters rattled home a much-needed 3-pointer from the right wing. Of the Aztecs’ first six 3-point attempts, their only two makes came from guards as BJ Davis had the other—Heide, Simmons each attempted one while Oden tried a pair.
After Bengals pulled as close as within 3 at 18-15 with 7:45 remaining, then after Dixon-Waters’ depth charge, Oden had five 5 points beginning at the 4:50 mark—a pair of free-throws, a dunk and a trey—which capped SDSU scoring 10 of the next 12 points.
More importantly, the defense dialed in down the stretch and limited Idaho State to makes on just two of their final 10 shots from the field. The Aztecs made five of their final seven shots from the field and took a 34-21 lead at the half.
Miles Byrd imposed his will in the opening minutes of the second half, getting credited for steals on the first three defensive possessions of the second half, bursting for four in the opening 2:52 of his six for the game. The junior guard also had a game-high six assists.
The teams traded scores for much of the second half, with the lead fluctuating between 13 and 17 points, though Compton proved crucial at the offensive end playing with four fouls, getting dunks for three straight of SDSU’s scores before being called for a technical foul on a dunk off a drop pass by Sean Newman Jr.
Dutcher is the third-winningest coach in San Diego State history, with Steve Fisher’s 386 wins the program record and 1994 SDSU Hall of Famer George Ziegenfuss having 316 from 1949-69. He has the highest career winning percentage and third-most wins among active coaches in the Mountain West.
Magoon Gwath was cleared to return to practice earlier in the week. According to Dutcher postgame, he was not cleared to play in the game by the SDSU training staff.
At media availability before the weekend Dutcher indicated that the next game is a likely game to see last season's Mountain West defensive player, freshman of the year and all-conference honorable mention make his season debut.
The Aztecs conclude their three-game regular season-opening homestand against the Troy Trojans, with tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 18.