Cheatham, Shrigley lead Aztecs to 100-67 victory vs Tigers

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- With San Diego State leading Savannah State 99-65 with a minute left, the Aztecs' student section started chanting "One more point!"

They got it when Valentine Izundu made the front end of a one-and-one with 46 seconds left to finish off a 100-67 victory.

"We did what we were supposed to do and we did it in nice fashion," San Diego State coach Steve Fisher said.

Zylan Cheatham scored 18 points and Matt Shrigley had 15, all on 3-pointers in the first half, to lead the Aztecs on their romp.

Max Hoetzel added 15, Jeremy Hemsley 14 and Montaque Gill-Caesar 12 for the Aztecs (4-1), who were playing for the first time in a week following a 77-65 victory against California at Sacramento.

Dexter McClanahan scored 13 for Savannah State (2-6).

"It was nice to see," Fisher said. "This is a team that plays at a pace we don't see very often."

Savannah State came in averaging 94 points while giving up 104. The Tigers were averaging 17 3-pointers, on 42 attempts, but made only 10 of 38.

The Aztecs took 40 3-pointers, making 14.

SDSU had 22 assists. Hemsley had nine, with no turnovers.

"We've got a group of really good young people who are very unselfish," Fisher said. "We were taking too many hard shots. We took a few tonight, but we did a better job of moving the ball and making one more pass to go from a good shot to a better shot and it wins for you."

Shrigley made his five 3-pointers in a span of less than seven minutes in the first half, helping the Aztecs take a 43-24 lead. After Shrigley made his fifth shot from behind the arc, Cheatham dribbled the length of the court for a tomahawk dunk.

"We do that all the time in practice. Take your shot and make your shot, as coach preaches," Shrigley said. "That's what we did the first half."

Hitting 100 "just means we scored the ball well," Shrigley said. "We made our shots."

SDSU used a 22-8 run during the final 7:23 to take a 60-32 halftime lead. The Tigers went nearly six minutes without making a field goal, until Robert Kelly hit a 3-pointer with 32 seconds left.

BIG PICTURE

Savannah State: The Tigers dropped to 0-6 away from Savannah, including losses in two neutral-court games. After Thursday night's home game against Georgia Southern, the Tigers will play at No. 23 Oregon on Saturday, at Oregon State on Dec. 11 and at William & Mary on Dec. 19.

San Diego State: The Aztecs are as healthy as they've been all season. They had their second straight home blowout, sandwiched around their victory against Cal.

UP NEXT

Savannah State hosts Georgia Southern on Thursday.

San Diego State plays at Loyola on Sunday.