Photos by Jason Testa

Men’s basketball is upon us as San Diego State Men’s Basketball is hosting the number 12 Ranked UCLA Bruins at Viejas Arena. The matchup marks a beginning as all of the proceeds from the game will benefit the Aztecs recruitment and retention fund. 

There was a fired up and excited crowd to open up the game for the Aztecs

Off the get go UCLA was getting it going. With a multi-pronged scoring attack from the Bruins, they were able to build a 17-0 lead to start the game. 

Off a second chance opportunity Senior Guard Sean Newman Jr got the first points on the board for the Aztecs as he sunk in a 3 with 12 minutes left in the first half. 

After some back and forth affair from the two teams, Senior Guard from UCLA Skyy Clark would get back to back exciting buckets to put the Bruins up 28-10 with 5:40 left to go on the firt, causing the Aztecs to take another timeout.

Going into the half the Aztecs would barely be able to chip away at the lead, trailing 39-23. Leading the Aztecs at the half was Reese Dixon-Waters with 7 points, Miles Heide, the Junior Forward had 6 boards, and lastly with 2 assists was Junior Guard Latrell Davis.

Leading the Bruins at half was Clark with 11 points, Steven Jamerson 2nd with 3 boards and Donovan Dent with 2 assists. 

Throughout the first half the Aztecs couldn’t get the 3s to fall, as they shot 3-15, and the Bruins defense forced a lot of turnovers which disrupted the offense.

Opened the half with a Bucket from 39. From 3 39 cuts the lead to just 10 with 15 remainig, before ucla answered right back with 5 points of their own.

In the opening play of the half Dixon-Waters dropped in a 3, and then another 3 a few minutes later from him would cut the lead to just 10 with 15 remaining. UCLA responded though with 5 points of their own. 

With just under 12 and a half to play, a tough lay in from BJ Davis would cut the lead to single digits, but the Bruins clapped right back with a bucket from Sophomore Guard Trent Perry. 

Coming out of a timeout Tae Simmons scores inside to cut it back down to 9 and after some scoring from the bruins Jeremiah Oden goes up for the slam to cut the lead to 6 with 8:47 left to go.

After more back and forth affair Degourville gets the tough and one to make it a one score game with just over 7 and a half minutes to go to make the score 54-51!

Throughout the final minutes of the fourth it would continue to be a back and fourth affai, with UCLA with a slight edge. 

Despite a tough comeback from the Aztecs it just wasn’t quite enough in the end as the Bruins would pull away with the win 67-60. 

Leading the night for the Aztecs was Dixon-Waters with 19 points, Heide led with 7 rebounds, and Davis and Miles Byrd led with 2 assists. 

UCLA won the crucial battles of the game like turnovers, rebounding, and getting to the charity stripe. Overall it was a great game for the Aztecs and the season they have ahead, it was a great game all around against a top 15 team in the nation. 

In the opening statement from Head Coach Brian Dutcher he reflected on the game for the Aztecs, “I mean, for our purposes, it was great. We found some deficiencies, we found some strengths, and we found some things to work on, and that’s what you want out of these things.”.

“To play a game like this, we got down. We realized, Hey, boy, we bet we if we don’t play our best, we’re not going to be very good. We played at a higher level. We played ourselves back in the game, and it was what I wanted out of today. It’s exactly what I wanted out of this scrimmage, I would like to win it, but that’s not the purpose of why we did it.”

The Aztecs’ next game will be Wednesday October 29 as they will host USD here at Viejas Arena in another Exhibition game.