NCAA TOURNAMENT • Spokane: San Diego State rolls past Yale, earns rematch with defending national champion UConn

By MARK NELKE

Sports editor

SPOKANE — The San Diego State Aztecs got to enjoy an 85-57 blowout of Yale in the second round of the NCAA tournament Sunday night at the Spokane Arena, celebrating among themselves and with their fans on the floor of a building that had been slowly emptying out for much of the second half.

Then came the postgame news conference a few minutes later, where the first question on the minds of the media was … what do you think about your rematch with defending national champion UConn (33-3) on Thursday in the East Region semifinals in Boston?

“We’re excited to get another crack at them,” said San Diego State senior guard Darrion Trammell, who hit four 3-pointers and scored 18 points. “I think we’re up for the opportunity.”

“We had a bitter taste in our mouths last year,” added Aztecs senior forward Jaedon LeDee, who had 26 points and nine rebounds in his second big game in three days at the Arena.

“We have a road game against UConn in Boston, but I think we’ll be up to the task,” seventh-year San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher said.

After getting pushed to the limit by 12th seed UAB in a four-point victory Friday, fifth-seeded San Diego State erased most of the upset suspense early, scoring the game’s first 10 points and cruising past 13th-seeded Yale in the finale of the six-game NCAA Arena show.

LeDee scored 17 of his points in the first half as the Aztecs (26-10) ran out to a 45-21 halftime lead, a lopsided score that sent a portion of the sold-out crowd of 11,514 to the exits early — perhaps to the relief of those Arena fans suffering from soreamus buttamus after sitting through six games — many of them albeit mighty entertaining ones — in three days.

San Diego State used spurts of 11-0 and 8-0 to open its lead up to 39-16 late in the first half.

The Aztecs, who average seven, made 3-pointers a game, and were 306th in the country in 3-point shooting coming in, buried 13 of 27 3s against Yale. Midway through the second half, sophomore guard Miles Byrd drilled a 3 from the left wing to make it 71-41, then smiled at the crowd as he backpedaled down the court.

“I think we got the hardest game out of the way (on Friday),” Trammell said. “We came out loose and confident, and got open shots.”

“They don’t normally take as many 3s as they took tonight,” said Yale coach James Jones, in his 25th season. “We gave too much space to certain guys, and they were able to knock ‘em down tonight. They got hot, they felt good, they got comfortable, and they were able to make shots. That’s what happens when you have a comfort level, and every Tom, Dick and Harry that comes off the bench, they make ‘em as well.”

Ben Mbeng scored 12 points, Matt Knowling 11 for Yale (23-10), John Poulakidas, who hit six 3s and scored 28 points in Yale’s upset of fourth-seed Auburn in the first round, finished with nine points.

“Our guys battled; it was just not our day,” Jones said. “I told the guys, basketball gives you life lessons. You’re going to have a sandwich that you don’t want to eat sometimes, and we had to eat this sandwich. It doesn’t taste good; we had to choke on it.”