SAN DIEGO, Calif. (ABC4 Sports) – BYU had a 10-point lead on #19 San Diego State midway through the second half, but the Cougars could not hold it.
Laedon LaDee scored 26 points and Darrion Trammell added 21 to help the Aztecs beat BYU 82-75 on Friday night.
“I thought we attacked really well in the first half and hit the glass,” said BYU head coach Mark Pope. “We had some activity defensively that I liked and we were sharing the ball. It kind of got away from us in the final 10 minutes. We lost the battle at the rim and Trammell hit some big shots.”
After leading 40-36 at half, BYU extended its lead with a 12-6 run built on two 3-pointers form Gideon George and points in the paint from Fousseyni Traore. A successful inbound play from Rudi Williams to Traore helped the Cougars tie their game-high lead at 52-42 with 15:47 to play. But the Aztecs got hot after that, eventually taking a 3-point lead with two minutes to play.
Trammell then hit a 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down to give San Diego State a 76-70 lead. Spencer Johnson then hit a three-pointer to get BYU to within three points.
But LaDee sealed the game with a layup that gave the Aztecs a five-point lead.
Johnson scored 17 points to lead the Cougars, while Rudi Williams added 15. Traore finished with 14 points, and Gideon George scored 11.
After a lackluster opening half, the Aztecs turned up their offense in the back-and-forth second half, but were unable to solve BYU’s aggressive defense until the final minutes.
In the final minutes, the Cougars’ relative inexperience hampered their efforts to keep pace with SDSU’s dominant size, strength, and long-range shooting.
The Cougars shot 45.9 percent from the field, while the Aztecs finished at 40 percent shooting.
BYU (1-1) next hosts Missouri State on Wednesday.
BYU falls to #19 San Diego State, 82-75
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