San Diego State coach, players react to narrow 89-86 win against UNLV

The San Diego State Aztecs got a big performance from BJ Davis in an 89-86 win against UNLV in the regular-season finale on Friday night to keep alive their chances of sharing the Mountain West title.

Davis scored a career-high 30 points, including two clutch 3-point shots in the closing minutes, and stole the ball from Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn in the final seconds to prevent the hot-shooting UNLV guard from getting off a final shot. Gibbs-Lawhorn scored 32 points, including making five 3-pointers.

“That was a gutty, hard-fought win against a really good team,” coach Brian Dutcher said. “UNLV is playing really good basketball. Gibbs-Lawhorn is as good a player as you can get in the country. He made 32 points look easy against us, and I am glad he fumbled the last one. If he rolled up clean with it, who knows what would have happened? We had a hard-fought win, far from perfect.”

SDSU can share the MW title with New Mexico and Utah State if the Lobos beat the Aggies in Logan on Saturday. The Aztecs can be seeded either No. 2 or 3 in the MW tournament starting Thursday at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center.

Here are the highlights of Dutcher and the players’ news conference.

Dutcher on the game overall

“At the beginning of the game, I just put on the board: play hard. I thought we played pretty hard for most of the game. We got back on the plus side of rebounding. 33 to 30 for rebounds, and we took good care of the ball. We had 12 turnovers. Shot 55% from the field.

Dutcher on Davis

“BJ took over the game. There was a late timeout called, and I was going to run something for Reese [Dixon-Waters], but I looked over at BJ, and he was rolling his eyes, so I changed my mind, and I ran it for BJ. I said, ‘You're right. You made all the baskets right now, so I am going to run it and give you the ball.’ It worked out pretty well.

Dutcher on going into the MW tournament

“When you lose four out of five games in a stretch, momentum is an issue. Going into the conference tournament next week gives us some momentum. We know we are going to play on Thursday, and we know that because we played on Friday, we can give them some rest. We will give them Saturday and Sunday off to rehab their bodies.

Dutcher on the physical conditions of his players

“You saw I got guys limping out there. Elzie [Harrington] was trying to warm up but could not go. It is a long season, and this was the hard stretch. The hardest stretch of the season where you play four games with two days in between each game. It was a grind on the kids. Reese was in a walking boot two days leading into the game. He was in a walking boot in the walk through today, but then he warmed up and played. Reese is gutty and found a way to get on the floor. My team is beat up, but I need to find a way to rest them for a couple of days and come out with great energy on Monday as we prepare for the conference tournament with three games in three days, hopefully.”

Dutcher on Davis’ 30-point performance

“I always say that March is for players. I do not care what I was running. BJ was incredible. He made big, important shots, he attacked the basket and he made important plays. He is a player who, when they go any place like that, he makes us all look good. March is for players, and he stepped up in March basketball. If he plays that way in March, we will have a chance to continue to win something.”

Dutcher on the team’s improvement in rebounding

“We did okay rebounding. Obviously, Boise State is a big, physical team. UNLV is more lean and athletic like we are. So, they did a good job on the glass, but it was not quite as physical as playing Boise was. We have to continue to work on rebounding, because it is going to be the key to our season as we go into the Mountain West conference tournament.”

Junior guard BJ Davis on the last play of the game

“In the last play of the game, I knew they needed three points and they had the ball up there dancing at the top. I knew they were going to take a dribble and shoot it. It was just a matter of time. It was just instinctual. I reached and I got it.”

Davis on the next steps after this big game

“It's important to heal our bodies, but we also can't lose the edge, focus and sharpness. We have to do a good job at practice, just being dialed in and sharp.”

Senior guard Reese Dixon-Waters on his time at San Diego State

“It means a lot coming to SDSU from another program. It's pretty different. It’s a family here. One thing I learned is to take it day by day, not looking into the future. It’s not promised. I'm very thankful for my time here. My faith has grown, so I'm very thankful for that.”

Dixon-Waters on UNLV’s strong defense

“They’re playing really well right now. On our defense, there are a few things that we messed up on, but overall, UNLV did a good job, especially with rebounding. But we got better tonight. There’s even more effort.”