SAN DIEGO – Standing near center court before the game, Reese Dixon-Waters had an understated smile as he was honored for scoring his 1,000th career point the game prior.
The mood was different earlier in the week for Pharaoh Compton, who had spent his time leading into San Diego State’s 73-50 win over the Colorado State Rams by watching video of the season series from last year with intent to dominate this time around.
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The combination of Dixon-Waters showing off his catalog of shots to score 16 points on 7-for-9 shooting, alongside Compton making a menace of himself in the post to the tune of 15 points and five rebounds to power the Aztecs (15-5, 9-1 Mountain West) to their third-largest win in the series’ history.
“When Reese starts rhythm dribbling and raising up for 3 he’s hard to deal with, so he’s getting good rhythm to his game…he was super efficient and good at the defensive end again,” said head coach Brian Dutcher. “Pharaoh comes off the bench and he’s shooting high percentage, he’s always taking high percentage shots…he makes that effort play where he’s all of a sudden above the rim dunking the ball and chasing down rebounds, so real happy with both of them.”
While Colorado State (12-9, 3-7) was able to knock down eight from beyond the arc, nearly three fewer than their conference-best 10.5 average per game, the Rams never seriously threatened in the second half. The Scarlet and Black allowed just three of the visitors’ eight 3-pointers in the final 20 and never let the lead dip below double-digits after the 15:37 mark.
A big part of that was the Aztecs’ primacy in the paint, out-scoring CSU 30-14 and winning the battle on the boards 32-24.
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“Before the game, knowing that (Rashaan) Mbemba on the other team got the best of me last year and going to the last few minutes of the game last year knowing he out-physicaled me and outplayed me, (I) kind of took it personal going into this game,” Compton said.
SDSU opened the second half on an 8-0 run, kick-started by Miles Byrd getting fouled on a right wing 3-pointer when Mbemba needlessly crashed into the Aztecs’ guard on the closeout. Later Byrd would get a steal but missed the dunk, only to get another opportunity when he stole it from Brandon Rechnsteiner the next possession and finished it with a two-hand flush.
Dixon-Waters started another spurt, this one 9-0 after back-to-back CSU 3’s by making a driving score and then tickling the twine from deep in the right corner.
“I work on (those shots), sometimes I feel in that moment it’s a good shot for me — I definitely shoot some that are questionable, but I’m happy with anything I throw up there, I’m confident in it,” Dixon-Waters said. “Every time I shoot I think it’s going in, so I dont’ ever shoot a shot that I second-guess, or something that I feel like isn’t a good shot.”
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Compton’s on-point play in the paint carried over from the first half, as he scored on a put-back, and then converted an and-one after the Rams responded, and then hammered down his second jam off a lob from Sean Newman Jr. to push the lead out to 20 near the midway mark of the half.
BJ Davis, who started his first game of the season in place on the injured Elzie Harrington, recorded four of his five assists in the second half and notched 9 points overall.
“BJ’s been playing a lot off the ball, like a two-guard and then I throw him out there as the point guard and it’s a little bit different, now he has to pass and he’s a dynamic scorer,” Dutcher said. “He can play both positions, but…when I play him at the point late in the game I’m playing ball-screens for him and letting him go downhill. He’s not running the plays and not running the team as much, so he did a really good job doing that having not played the position full time.”
CSU scored on consecutive possessions without an Aztec response just once the rest of the way, as Byrd hit a 3-pointer to give himself 10 points for the game and then reserve Cam Lawin added the cherry on top with a 3-ball with 20 seconds to play.
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Dixon-Waters had started the game strong by knocking down three of SDSU’s first four field goals.
His baseline jumper off an in bounds after the Aztecs forced a 10-second back court violation, and then a deep three from the left wing were part of an 11-0 run that helped erase an early 8-2 deficit. Compton had the last points of the run after being fouled on the fast break.
The sophomore forward had an electric 18-second stretch with just under six minutes remaining in the opening half, slipping free for an alley-oop from Newman Jr. Then, he poked the ball free from Kevin Muniz and broke away from a sharp left-handed slam.
It was part of a stretch where the Scarlet and Black made nine straight from the field, as Taj DeGourville got into the action by knocking down a left elbow fading jumper and then made another from a step inside the 3-point line on the left wing. The sophomore guard finished with 9 points and four rebounds.
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SDSU scored 8 straight points over a two minute stretch inside the four minute mark to open their largest lead of the half at 11 points, but a baseline, back-cut lay-in by Josh Pascarelli and a Muniz triple made it 33-27 Aztecs at the break.
No Colorado State player scored in double figures for the first time since the 2020-21 season, as Muniz had 9 points and Pascarelli had 8 points. The Aztecs held CSU to a season-low 33.3% shooting from the field.
San Diego State was without Harrington due to lower leg pain, a condition Dutcher said he has been dealing with for most of the season. Magoon Gwath also did not dress, and Dutcher said he expected the center to be available again in one to two weeks, with the team being cautious about the nature of his hip injury.
Up next is a trip to Logan to face the second-place Utah State Aggies, who notched a 94-62 blowout against Wyoming on Wednesday night. Tip off is scheduled for 10 a.m. PT on Saturday, Jan. 31 at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, and the game to be televised nationally on CBS with a local radio broadcast available on 760 AM.
This story was updated at 10:50 p.m.
