Gaines and Aztecs Continue Their Game of Futures, Lose to BYU, 94-82

PROVO, Utah — San Diego State Coach Smokey Gaines is putting the hopes of his basketball team in its future, which isn’t such a bad idea, considering the present.

The Aztecs lost again, this time to Brigham Young, 94-82, Thursday night in the Marriott Center. It was SDSU’s seventh loss in a row and fifth straight in Western Athletic Conference play.

Despite watching his team’s overall record fall to 2-13, Gaines said he saw some improvement. SDSU shot an impressive 65% from the field, more than 20% above its season average.

Though the Aztecs never led once the Cougars took over eight minutes into the game, they stayed close to the end.

“I’ve come in here with better teams and lost by 35,” Gaines said.

Freshman guard Tony Ross hit 5 of 7 three-point shots and finished with 25 points. Hence, Gaines’ optimism.

“This is a team of the future,” he said. “We’re not going to win a lot of games this year. We’re not going to fool anybody.”

In the early going, junior center Gerald Murray, three inches shorter than BYU center Tom Gneiting, went inside with abandon. Forward Rodney Hawkins, too, went inside, scoring six of the Aztec’s first eight points. SDSU built its lead to 22-15 with 12:17 left in the half on guard Josh Lowery’s field goal.

While the Aztecs were working the Cougars over at one end of the court, BYU (4-1, 12-6) was missing everything it put up, making only one of its first seven shots. Only the arrival of reserve guard Brian Taylor, who hit a pair of three-pointers, woke the Cougars.

BYU scored 13 straight points to go ahead for good, 28-22. During that run, the Aztecs committed a series of turnovers to take themselves out of contention.

“It came down to turning the ball over in a few key situations and missing free throws,” Gaines said. SDSU had 11 turnovers by halftime, BYU had 4. For the game, the Aztecs had 14 turnovers and shot only 54.5% from the free-throw line.

Ross led the Aztecs with his outside shooting. “This young man is going to be a terrific player in our league,” Gaines said. “He could be the all-time leading scorer in San Diego State history.”

Asked if he had ever seen a better outside-shooting freshman, Gaines smiled and said: “Only myself.”

The Cougars were led by 6-foot 9-inch sophomore Michael Smith, who scored 26 points--including two three-pointers--and had 18 rebounds. Junior Jeff Chatman added 21 points.

Trailing at halftime, 52-45, SDSU never got closer than five points. Lowery’s basket with 17:58 remaining brought the Aztecs to within 56-51.

The Aztecs will play Utah Saturday at 2 p.m. in Salt Lake City.