If they want to go back to a third straight Sweet 16, San Diego State is going to have to beat some really good teams. If their early season schedule is any indication they have the pieces to do that ... and they're figuring out how those pieces fit together sooner than most people expected.
The Aztecs came from behind to beat Houston, the 6th-ranked team in the country, 73-70 in overtime in the 3rd place game at the inaugural Players Era Festival in Las Vegas.
For a while it didn't look great for the men from Montezuma Mesa. They fell behind 40-29 with 15 minutes to play, not the position you want to be in against a team that's expected to compete for a national title. The young Aztecs grew up fast, led by dynamic sophomore Miles Byrd.
The lefty started and finished a comeback, nailing a 3-pointer to ignite the SDSU offense and hitting a pair of free throws with 13 seconds left to tie it at 65 and force overtime. Byrd scored 13 of his team-high 18 points during that span and once he started hitting, everyone else joined in the fun.
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Freshman Pharaoh Compton, a Vegas native, played the best game of his budding career with 13 points off the bench. Senior transfers Nick Boyd (12 points, six assists) and Jared Coleman-Jones (16 points, five rebounds) both had timely buckets down the stretch.
In overtime it was Byrd and Boyd (perhaps a backcourt we can dub "The Killer B's?") hit back-to-back layups to put SDSU on top by five with 43 seconds left and the Cougars ran out of time trying to mount their own comeback. The Aztecs improve to 4-2 on the season and come back from Vegas with wins over the #6 and #21 teams in the nation. That's not a bad way to spend a week in Sin City.
SDSU gets a $1.15 million Name, Image Likeness windfall for their performance in the tournament, a massive influx of cash for a mid-major school that's shown it's one of the best basketball programs in the country. Up next for the Aztecs is a trip to Fresno State on Wednesday in an oddly early Mountain West Conference opener. After that they finish 2024 with four straight at Viejas Arena, starting on Saturday, December 7 with a cross-town rivalry game against the University of San Diego.
