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San Diego State will get another shot at fixing its road woes when the No. 19 Aztecs travel to Fresno State for a Mountain West Conference contest Saturday night.
San Diego State (20-7, 9-5 MWC) fell to 2-5 on the road in conference play with a 68-63 loss at Utah State on Tuesday. Both teams entered the game tied for first place in the league standings, but now the Aztecs will need help to secure a share of the conference title for the 11th time in the past 15 seasons.
The Aztecs chased Utah State nearly the whole game, finally cutting a 10-point deficit with 11 minutes to go to one with 4:47 on the clock, but San Diego State couldn’t seize the lead and lost its fifth Mountain West road game in the past six.
It’s been a frustrating trend, as the Aztecs led or were within a point in the second half of all five road losses.
“Until we make timely plays with the game on the line, this is what the result is going to be,” San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher said. “We have to be better with the game on the line, and we weren’t.”
At least the Aztecs have the most difficult part of their regular-season schedule behind them.
Of the four remaining teams on its schedule, only Boise State beat San Diego State the first time around and that was a one-point victory in Idaho.
The Aztecs won the first meeting against Fresno State, 74-47, on Jan. 3, their most lopsided victory in Mountain West play this season.
Jaedon LeDee scored 21 points to lead San Diego State in that win, and the senior power forward has led the Aztecs in scoring in 19 of their 27 games.
LeDee is averaging a conference-leading 20.5 points overall and has surpassed that mark in each of the past three games.
San Diego State will need others to step up as the games get more difficult, however.
Lamont Butler, best known for hitting the buzzer-beater against Florida Atlantic in the Final Four last season, missed all five of his shots and went scoreless against Utah State.
Micah Parrish, another valuable member from last season’s squad, scored two points on 1-for-7 shooting against the Aggies and has been held to single digits the past four games.
Fresno State (11-15, 4-9) has only beaten two teams in conference play — Air Force and San Jose State twice each.
The Bulldogs had a week off between games after their blowout loss at Boise State last Saturday.
The Broncos shot 58.8 percent from the floor in the 90-66 win and outrebounded Fresno State 35-23, the sixth time this season the Bulldogs have been outrebounded by double digits.
Fresno State has done a decent job of protecting the basketball, committing seven turnovers or fewer in three of the past four games.
Isaiah Pope is coming off his best game since early in conference play, scoring 17 points against Boise State.
Isaiah Hill also contributed 15 points for his team-leading 17th game in double figures. He’s also played all 40 minutes for the fourth straight game.
–Field Level Media
