LOGAN, Utah – The scoreboard high above the visitors’ bench at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum was a concern. It said San Diego State lost 79-71 at Utah State on Saturday night after trailing by 14 early, mounting a prodigious comeback under trying circumstances, leading by four inside four minutes to go and then being outscored, gulp, 14-0.
The bigger concern, though, was at the end of it.
Magoon Gwath, SDSU’s 7-foot starting forward whom Utah State coach Jerrod Calhoun said “is playing as good as anybody in the country,” was sitting there with his right knee in a brace and crutches at his feet.
How long he has them becomes the immediate question on everyone’s mind.
(It didn’t look good.)
Just two minutes into the game, Gwath blocked a layup attempt by Aggies guard Dexter Akanno and landed awkwardly on his right leg as Akanno crashed into him.
Both went to the floor under the basket. Akanno got up. Gwath didn’t.
After several silent minutes in another otherwise crazed arena, Gwath was helped to his feet and escorted by Utah State’s team doctor straight to the locker room, unable to put any pressure on the leg. He returned six minutes later on crutches and plopped down onto the end of the visitors’ bench as his team spiraled to a 14-point deficit.
“Right now, we’re calling it a sprain,” coach Brian Dutcher said. “That’s what we’re calling it and what it will be until we get back and get an MRI, where we have a better idea of what we’re dealing with. I think having him ready for Tuesday (against New Mexico) would be a stretch, and best-case scenario I would imagine he’ll miss a week for two — best-case scenario.
“Not what you want to see.”
A team spokesperson later clarified that the initial diagnosis is a hyperextended knee but cautioned that tests need to confirm that.
The hope will be for a similar outcome as former Aztecs guard Matt Mitchell, whose knee buckled in an almost identical spot on the Spectrum court four years ago. It didn’t look good, either, but an MRI determined it was a bone bruise without ligament damage and Mitchell returned 10 days later.
“Matt went down and we thought we might be done for the year, and he found a way back,” Dutcher said. “Unfortunately, we’re late in the year.”
The Aztecs (18-7, 11-5) have four games left in the regular season, beginning Tuesday at Viejas Arena against the first-place Lobos. Given the tenuous state of their NCAA Tournament at-large resume, they likely need to win at least three and possibly all four.
The regular-season finale is March 8. The Mountain West tournament begins March 13.
“Magoon Gwath, I got three calls in the last two days from NBA scouts,” Utah State’s Calhoun said. “Him not playing obviously impacted their team, and I hope for his sake and for his team that he gets healthy. He’s a wonderful player.”
Without Gwath, who has averaged close to a double-double over the past month, the Aztecs struggled initially before settling on a small lineup with four guards and a post, then coaxing the Aggies out of their matchup zone and exploiting their man defense with ball screens for point guard Nick Boyd.
They got their first lead two minutes into the second half, fell behind by seven, then clawed back to lead 69-65 on Boyd’s twisting layup with 3:42 left.
And didn’t score again until 2.1 seconds to go while the Aggies ripped off a 14-0 run.
“They made some big shots,” sophomore guard BJ Davis said. “We just couldn’t get a stop, man. Hats off to them. There’s really nothing I can say. They did an incredible job of attacking the paint and making timely shots.”
The Aggies’ last two points came on a technical foul against freshman Pharaoh Compton with 2.1 seconds left, for saying something from the bench.
“Bye, bye Byrdie,” the Utah State students chanted at guard Miles Byrd, the object of their ire for much of the night. (A student held up a giant, blown-up photo of him, hands on his head in distress, just feet from the Aztecs bench.)
Byrd had a rough night on the scoresheet, too, unable to compensate for the loss of SDSU’s other NBA prospect. He finished with eight points on 2 of 12 shooting, just 1 of 9 behind the 3-point arc.
Boyd had 15 points, and Davis added 14 before fouling out with 2:57 and the Aztecs up one. No one else was in double figures.
Utah State (24-4, 14-3) got a career-high 26 points from Oregon State transfer Dexter Akanno, plus 18 each from Ian Martinez and Deyton Albury. The Aggies also had a 38-30 rebounding edge, 11-6 on the offensive boards.
Many of Akanno’s points came from downhill drives to the basket, which no longer had Gwath, fifth in the nation in blocks per game (2.71), protecting it. Many drives resulted in Aztecs fouls, and the Aggies went 26 of 32 from the line – making nine more than the visitors.
“They got to the rim,” Dutcher said. “They found the matchup they wanted, they drove the ball and we didn’t have the shot blocking we normally have. He’s a game-changer at the rim. We all know that. We’ve seen it. Would they have found something else that worked? Maybe. But we would have had a better chance of protecting the rim with Goon in the game.”
The score when Gwath went down was 2-0, Aggies. Thirteen minutes later, it was 29-15 and Dutcher was calling timeout to madly bail water from the boat.
Dutcher ranks 362nd out of 364 Division I programs in second-foul participation at 1.3%, meaning once you get two in the first half you take a seat for the remainder of it 98.7% of the time. But when you’re down 14 on the road at altitude, and three players – Boyd, Davis and Miles Heide – all have two, you don’t have many options. All three went back in.
Boyd quickly got fouled and made two free throws, righting the ship. By halftime, they had halved the deficit to 33-26.
An 8-0 run to open the second half, and suddenly, improbably, the Aztecs had their first lead. A 12-2 run later in the half, punctuated by Boyd playing off ball screens, gave them the 69-65 advantage that, it turned out, wasn’t nearly enough.
“A gutty performance against a really good Utah State team,” Dutcher said. “Had chances to win and just could not make the final plays to get it done.”
