SAN DIEGO — San Diego State’s basketball team was merrily going through warmups Saturday night at Viejas Arena when Aguek Arop stepped wrong and felt a tweak in his groin.
He never recovered and didn’t play.
Neither did the rest of the team.
The No. 23 Aztecs lost for the first time at home this season, 76-67 against New Mexico in an increasingly chippy game that included several technical fouls, taunting and trash talking, and a controversial officiating decision that changed the complexion of the game.
The loss was the first by SDSU (13-4, 4-1) in the Mountain West and almost certainly ended their one-week return to the Associated Press top 25. And also any designs of running away and hiding in the conference are over, at least for now. Next up are a pair of road games in altitude, at Colorado State and Air Force.
The answer to your next question: Gerry Pollard.
He’s the official who called a (questionable) reach foul on Nathan Mensah with 8:20 left in a one-point game. It was Mensah’s fourth foul.
Then, when Mensah protested, Pollard whistled a T on him as well — his fifth.
SDSU had just taken the lead, 49-48, for the first time since the opening minute, but now Lobos guard Jaelen House was making both technical free throws followed by a 3-pointer. That started a 12-0 run, and the Aztecs were cooked.
They got within four at 64-60 with 2:55 left when Lamont Butler made both ends of a one-and-one.
At 2:29, Matt Bradley missed the front end of the one-and-one — a common theme — and the Lobos responded with a pair of baskets to seal it.
Did the Aztecs deserve better from an officiating crew that, curiously, rarely works their games?
Maybe.
Did they deserve to win?
Maybe not.
They played a dreadful first half and, even after righting the ship in the second, followed brilliant plays with ill-advised shots or sloppy turnovers or missed free throws. They finished the game 11 of 21 from the line (52.4%).
House dribbled out the final seconds and then tossed the ball high in the air at the buzzer. It was a redemptive performance. A year after finishing with three points and five turnovers in a 25-point loss at Viejas Arena, the Arizona State transfer had 29 points and four steals.
Jamal Mashburn Jr., who followed coach Richard Pitino to Albuquerque from Minnesota, added 22 points. Wichita State transfer Morris Udeze had 10 points and 15 rebounds.
Crazy stat: The Lobos (16-2, 3-2) had just five assists on 27 baskets … and won by nine.
That gives you an idea how awful the Aztecs were.
Bradley had a team-high 14 points but required 16 shots to do it. Adam Seiko had 13 and Keshad Johnson 10 on a combined 9 of 12 shooting. But everyone else was 16 of 47 (34%), and the Aztecs were 6 of 24 (25%) behind the arc after making 45.2% over the previous five games.
The Aztecs led Nevada by 21 with five minutes left Tuesday, then melted down and won by only nine. It was probably the best 35 minutes of the season, followed by the worst five.
Was there a hangover?
It sure looked like it, with the Aztecs playing maybe their worst half of the season, shooting 37.5% and trailing 38-28.
The most telling stat: 1 of 7 from the line.
You knew things were going sideways when New Mexico wing Javonte Johnson opened the Lobos’ scoring with a 3, then hit another on his next possession and shushed the crowd. By halftime he had 10 points … by a guy averaging 4.9 with a season high of nine.
The Lobos threw a defensive wrinkle at SDSU by putting 6-foot-8, 235-pound Missouri-Kansas City forward Josiah Allick on the 6-3 Bradley in hopes that the added length and girth would bother him. And it did, Allick tipping one of Bradley’s patented step-back jumpers on SDSU’s opening possession.
Coach Brian Dutcher countered by sending in 6-9, 240-pound Jaedon LeDee for Johnson, forcing Allick to switch onto LeDee instead of leaving the 6-6, 215-pound Johnson to battle the TCU transfer. But then Mensah got in foul trouble, meaning LeDee — without Arop available — had to play the 5 and Allick could go back to Bradley.
The adjustment in the second half was to make Bradley more of a distributor instead of purely a jump shooter, using his quickness advantage to penetrate and draw help before dishing for easy hoops. The result: three assists in just over two minutes to open the half.
That ignited the Aztecs offense, finally pulling even with the Lobos and compelling a timeout with 13:31 to go and taking a 49-48 lead with 9:23 to go.
The lead, it turned out, would be short-lived.
