NBC 7’s Todd Strain reports from a Mira Mesa watch party jam-packed with happy Aztecs fans.
The pace. The back-and-forth. The final minutes playing out for what seemed like eternity. Everything about San Diego State's 71-64 win over top-seeded Alabama was familiar to Aztecs fans, but the win takes the program to new territory.
They're in the Elite 8 now, three wins away from a National Championship. No Mountain West Conference school has ever made it this far.
It didn't come without drama, though. A Jaedon Lee missed free throw with 55 seconds left led to an Alabama layup that closed the gap to two points. A quick foul put Matt Bradley, the season's leading scorer who had only registered 4 points on 2 of 9 shooting to that point, on the line and he sank two to push the lead back to four with 34 seconds left.
Get Philly local news, weather forecasts, sports and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Philadelphia newsletters.
From there, Bama played the hack-a-Tec game, and a series of trips to the charity stripe put SDSU up for good.
Darrion Trammell took over in the second half, sparking a mini-run that helped the Aztecs maintain a tight lead in the final minutes. He finished the game with 21 of SDSU's 71 points. Big man Jaedon LeDee added 12 of his own and a six-pack of boards.
The Aztecs defense held Alabama to 34% shooting from the field, including a down-home 13% (3 of 23) from deep.
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
