San Diego State cruises to easy win in final basketball exhibition game

Aztecs beat Toreros 87-54 without Miles Byrd, Magoon Gwath

San Diego State Aztecs guard Reese Dixon-Waters (39). | Photo courtesy of San Diego State University Athletics

This used to be a crosstown rivalry. 

And then it wasn’t played at all, because the San Diego State Aztecs felt they had more to lose than gain by playing a school that’s located less than 10 miles down the freeway.

Now it’s an exhibition game, and San Diego State, even without its two biggest stars, cruised to an 87-54 victory against the San Diego Toreros. 

Now the Aztecs can get on with the regular season, which starts Tuesday night at home against Long Beach State. There are high expectations for this team, which was the unanimous preseason pick to win the Mountain West in its final season before jumping to the Pac-12. 

Who wasn’t playing

Magoon Gwath and Miles Byrd didn’t play for health reasons.

Byrd played limited minutes in a 67-60 exhibition loss to preseason No. 12 UCLA on Oct. 17 due to an abdominal strain, but didn’t play at all against the Toreros. He was named the Mountain West’s Preseason Player of the Year last week, and on Tuesday was named to the Julius Irving Award Preseason Watch List. 

Gwath, a 7-footer, just recently returned to a limited role in practice after having arthroscopic surgery on his right knee in late April. He won’t be fully cleared until sometime in November. Gwath’s 68 blocked shots last year helped him win the MW Freshman of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year awards, and a spot on the All-Defense Team, as well as honorable mention All-MW.

Both players withdrew from the NBA Draft process — and Gwath from the transfer portal, as well — to return to SDSU for another year and what they hope is a deep run in March Madness.

Who did play

After leading the Aztecs with 19 points against UCLA, senior guard Reese Dixon-Waters had a game-high 17 against the Toreros, 11 of them in the second half. That included seven straight points in just less than 1 ½ minutes early in the half. 

Dixon-Waters returns after missing all of last year with a broken foot. He had such a good 2023-24 season that he was named to the preseason All-MW team last week. 

Also reaching double digits in scoring for the Aztecs were Latrell Davis (13), Elzie Harrington (12) and Taj DeGourville (11). Miles Heide had eight rebounds while Sean Newman Jr. had four assists.

That @_degourville_ to @PharaohCompton connection is in midseason form! #GoAztecs pic.twitter.com/yS4B3DssJe

— San Diego State Men's Basketball (@Aztec_MBB) October 30, 2025

It took the Aztecs 2 ½ minutes to score, but once they did, they took a 19-4 lead en route to a 48-24 halftime lead. 

Up next

After opening against Long Beach State, the Aztecs continue their season-opening homestand with games against Idaho State on Nov. 9 and Troy on Nov. 18.