San Diego State (15-6, 8-4) briefly led Colorado State in the second half on Saturday night, but a 12-1 run by the Rams put the Aztecs behind 59-51 with 8:57 remaining.
Despite their efforts to regain the lead, the Aztecs were unable to overcome the Rams, ultimately losing 68-63.
“I thought we fought hard enough, but we didn’t play well enough,” San Diego State head coach Brian Dutcher said after the contest.
Redshirt freshman Magoon Gwath was a bright spot for the Aztecs, finishing with 15 points and 10 rebounds on 7-10 shooting. He also had two blocks, surpassing Skylar Spencer for most blocks by a freshman in school history with 52.
“There’s lots of different things we can point out, but at the end of the day, we missed a lot of free throws down that stretch in the second half, and that allowed them to get enough separation to win the game,” Dutcher said.
Miles Byrd, who had 25 points and seven steals in the first matchup between the two teams in June, struggled on Saturday night. Byrd finished with seven points on 2-11 shooting including 1-8 from 3-point range.
“Sometimes, your best player has got to step up and make baskets and make plays, and I have faith that Byrd will do it next game because he’s a very good player,” Dutcher said.
Nick Boyd, a graduate transfer from Florida Atlantic, stuffed the stat sheet. He had eight points, eight assists, five assists and three steals. He was 4 of 5 from the charity stripe and committed just one of San Diego State’s eight turnovers on the night.
The Aztecs lost the rebounding battle by nine and were not sharp from the free throw line, making 11 of 21 attempts.
“It doesn’t take a coach to know that if you go 11-for-21 from the foul line, it’s really hard to win,” Dutcher said.
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