ORLANDO, Fla. — They weren't going to be denied.
No way.
Not after last year. Not after waiting 12 months. Not after the memories of blowing a nine-point lead with 2 1/2 minutes to go was etched into their collective psyches.
San Diego State squandered a nine-point lead again in an NCAA Tournament game that it seemingly had under control, but then it decided enough was enough, that it wasn't ready for the season to end, that it was time for Cinderella to head back up I-95.
Just hours after Furman shocked fourth-seeded Virginia with a last-second 3 on this same floor, the Aztecs made sure there was no fantastic finish against 12th-seeded College of Charleston, making enough clutch baskets and free throws over the closing minutes (and not turning it over against the press) to secure a 63-57 victory on Thursday afternoon at Orlando's Amway Center.
It's their first tournament win in six seasons with Brian Dutcher as head coach and the school's first since 2015.
It also ended an agonizing losing streak by the Mountain West in the NCAA Tournament that had stretched to 11 with Utah State's loss against Missouri an hour earlier and Nevada's loss against Arizona State the night before.
The fifth-seeded Aztecs (28-6) now advance to the round of 32 here Saturday against … the 13th-seeded Paladins?
Furman handed them a March Madness gift, upsetting No. 4 Virginia in the day's first game at Amway Center with one of those highlights you'll be seeing for years, a 3-pointer with 2.2 seconds left after a rookie turnover by one of college basketball's most reliable point guards, fifth-year senior Kihei Clark.
Be careful what you wish for, though. The last time the Aztecs were in this situation, getting 15th-seeded Florida Gulf Coast in the round of 32 after a first-round upset of No. 2 Georgetown in 2013, they lost 81-71 and Cinderella was on its merry way to the Sweet 16 instead.
The Aztecs went from up nine to tied at 53 with 3:27 left but, importantly, never surrendered the lead. After the teams traded misses, Matt Bradley scored on a hard drive. The Aztecs coaxed a miss at the other end, then Micah Parrish calmly launched a 3 from the top of the key.
Good.
The Cougars (31-4) twice got within three in the final minute, but Bradley was fouled attempting a 3 at the shot-clock buzzer and made two a year after he capped the meltdown against Creighton by missing with seven seconds left in a tie game and again in overtime.
More free throws by Adam Seiko and Parrish sealed it.
The celebrations on the bench, particularly among the coaching staff, were palpable. Being oh-for-the-tournament was an albatross around Dutcher's neck.
Bradley led the Aztecs with 17 points to go with seven rebounds and four assists. Charleston couldn't handle Jaedon LeDee, who had eight points and 10 rebounds in 25 minutes off the bench. Aguek Arop had eight points, and Parrish and Lamont Butler each added seven.
Charleston's high-octane offense shot a dismal 32.1% overall, 5 of 24 behind the 3-point arc and scored a season-low 57 points. And their vaunted rotation that goes 10 deep managed just eight bench points, 16 fewer than SDSU.
The Aztecs won the opening tip and immediately ran the lob play that coach Brian Dutcher first drew up for the Fab Five as an assistant at Michigan in the early 1990s. He dusted it off this season, and they've run it successfully several times on opening possessions.
It was successful again. Keshad Johnson caught Butler's lob. Dunk. Two-zero lead.
But that was the last SDSU highlight for a while, compliments of 11 first-half turnovers, six in the first 6 1/2 minutes.
The Aztecs had 13 points in the opening 13 minutes, then 19 in the final seven. A 15-4 run erased a seven-point Charleston lead and put them ahead for the first time since 2-0. They led only 2:52 of the first half. Without 11 turnovers — they had one entire game this year with three — the margin easily could have been double figures instead of 32-29.
What saved them was the offensive boards, at both ends. The Aztecs had six a 10-0 edge in second-chance points by halftime. Charleston, which sends four and five guys to the glass and ranks among the nation's elite in offensive rebounding rate, had one.
Notable
— The Furman heroics in its 68-66 win against fourth-seeded Furman happened right in front of SDSU players, who were waiting in the corner of the arena to take the floor for an abbreviated warm-up between games … The officiating crew: A.J. Desai, Todd Austin and Kipp Kissinger. Desai (ACC) and Austin (SEC) have not worked SDSU games in the past few years. Kissinger has worked a handful, most recently a home loss against BYU in 2020 (without fans) and the infamous 59-57 win against San Jose State when Malachi Flynn drained a deep 3 at the buzzer. He now is primarily based in the Big Ten, Big 12 and Missouri Valley … Butler shed the cumbersome brace on his right pinky that he has worn in practice since spraining the finger in the Mountain West final against Utah State. Instead, he had a tape wrap on the finger, making it easier to shoot … Nathan Mensah fouled out last year in the NCAA Tournament loss against Creighton. This year, he had none in the first half but got two quick ones early in the second half.
