LIVE BLOG: San Diego St. defeats San Jose St., 72-51

POSTGAME ANALYSIS

Although the Spartans had a nice run in the middle of the second half, the hole they dug themselves in the first half proved insurmountable. SDSU's dominant defense and careful ball control was the story of the night. The Aztecs had just three turnovers on the night, while SJS had 13. SDSU took advantage and scored 16 points off those turnovers.

That being said, they still shot poorly from the line and three point land (59.1% from charity stripe, 31.3% from deep), so there's room for improvement before two key conference matchups.

Keshad Johnson finished with 16 points, shooting 7-10 from the field. The Spartans' leading scorer, Vaihola had 12 points on the day. Overall, the Spartans shot 17-49 from the field on the day (34.7%). When the Aztecs brought the press back later in the second half, they squeezed the life out of their opponent.

SECOND HALF

END OF GAME: SDSU wins 72-51: The Spartans got called for an administrative technical foul at the 58 second mark. Saunders missed the gimmie free throw, meanwhile, San Jose St. makes one foul shot on the other end. A quick San Jose St. layup was the final bucket of the night.

SDSU cruised to victory in this one. FINAL: 72-51, Aztecs.

58.9 remaining, SCORE: 72-48, SDSU: Butler hits one from deep coming out of the media timeout. Arop blocks a shot, then Ledee scored a second-chance basket on the other end, getting fouled along the way. He converted the three-point play. Fans are leaving Viejas in troves now.

The Aztec defense found its groove again, once again forcing the Spartans to shoot poorly.

SDSU is up big again, 72-48. Looks like the oddsmakers in Vegas were right — this one will clearly be a double-digit win.

3:23 remaining, SCORE: 66-48, SDSU (under 4-minute media timeout): Adam Seiko ends his scoring drought, making his first three pointer of the night, a stark contrast from last outing vs. Utah State (he's 1-4 on the night). After the made three, Vaihola got called for an offensive down low as he rammed into an SDSU player's chest.

Some fans started to file out of Viejas Arena; they're confident that the Aztecs have this one in the bag. Aztecs up, 66-48.

4:30 remaining, SCORE: 63-48, SDSU: Aztecs are now in the bonus after an offensive foul by Tolbert. Tolbert has four personal fouls. Arop made both of his foul shots.

5:06 remaining, SCORE: 61-48, SDSU: Cardenas makes both his foul shots for the Spartans after a Bradley foul. On the other end, Johnson makes both of his free throw. SDSU up 61-48.

5:31 remaining, SCORE: 59-46, SDSU: The Aztecs brought full court pressure back and started extending to the three-point line again on defense. Mensah made two foul shots after he was whacked inside. Bradley missed back-to-back layups inside.

The Aztecs stretched a little too far on the perimeter on one possession, leading to an easy basket in the paint for SJS. SDSU has zero field goals over the last 3:52.

Spartans call timeout. Aztecs lead, 59-46.

7:46 remaining, SCORE: 57-42, SDSU (under 8-minute media timeout): Johnson turned it over off a bad pass after a defensive rebound, leading to an easy lay up for Vaihola after Moore fed him.

A Spartan fouled Bradley as he attempted to bring the house down with a poster dunk, leading into the media timeout. Bradley made his foul shots after the short break.

SDSU still leading, 57-42.

8:49 remaining, SCORE: 55-40, SDSU: Johnson made a nice jumper from the charity stripe. On the ensuing possession, the Spartans reached the bonus after a Trammell foul on Cardenas. He made his first shot, then bricked the next.

Aztecs up, 55-40.

10:04 remaining, SCORE: 53-39, SDSU (under 12-minute media timeout): The Spartans have found their grove, making 7 of their last 7 shots. They already have scored more than they did in the first half: adding 23 points so far in the second. SDSU has scored 20 points in this frame, thanks to some three point shots by Trammell and Bradley.

During the SJS run, the Spartans slammed an alley oop of their own. Tolbert made two foul shots after Ledee fouled him.

Aztecs still up, 53-39.

14:10 remaining, SCORE: 46-26, SDSU (under 16-minute media timeout): Bradley is heating up, matching Johnson's point total for the night. San Jose St. made a couple shots after going cold for 10+ minutes, as Sports Director Ben Higgins pointed out. SDSU calls timeout to cool down the Spartans' run.

Arop, Ledee and Trammell check back into the game.

Aztecs are still up by 20: 46-26.

16:13 remaining, SCORE: 44-19, SDSU: After 22+ minutes of play, the Aztecs FINALLY made their first three of the night — thanks to a Bradley step back (he also made a jumper off a nice turnaround the previous possession). SJS responded with a three of their own, and believe it or not, the Aztecs hit another triple, this time from Trammell. He was fouled on the way down, and he converted the four-point play.

18:10 remaining, SCORE: 35-16, SDSU: The Aztecs waste no time getting on the board to start the half. Mensah continues the trend of paint domination, dunking the basketball. After another SJS miss inside, Bradley misses a three. Triples have been elusive for SDSU in this one.

Mensah fouls Diallo inside, and he makes both foul shots for the Spartans. SDSU leads 35-16.

HALFTIME ANALYSIS

Tonight is the Keshad Johnson show. He is leading the Aztecs with 12 points and six rebounds, scoring off a multitude of slam dunks, alley oops and even a nice touch finish at the rim. It looks like the guy took a sip of Jordan's Secret Stuff from Space Jam.

His presence has been felt on defense as well, as his size has helped suffocate the Spartan offense. The Aztecs' full court pressure and perimeter defense has really interrupted San Jose State's gameplan, because they are shooting absolutely horrifically so far.

The Spartans are 20.8% from the field overall tonight, going 1-10 from three along the way. Although SDSU is 0-5 from three and 3-11 from the line (yikes), they're shooting a cool 45.5%. Those high percentage shots from inside truly have been the difference. The Aztecs are also taking care of the ball and taking advantage of sloppy Spartan turnovers. SJS turned it over 10 times in the first half, while SDSU just had one.

Check out some of Johnson's highlights below:

FIRST HALF

END OF FIRST HALF — 33-14, SDSU: Keshad Johnson clearly ate his Wheaties this morning. He threw down possibly his most aggressive dunk of the night after a steal by Trammell. Down the stretch of the first half, the Spartans missed a one-and-one opportunity and a turnaround jumper. Also — before Johnson's dunk, Bradley had hit a long two for the Aztecs.

If SDSU keeps this up, the Spartans will want to get the bus started early, because they're about to get run out of the gym.

1:48 remaining, 29-14, SDSU: Trammell checks back in, and Seiko heads to the bench. The Spartans threw another sloppy pass, leading to Johnson getting the bounce on a nice turnaround move. On the other end, Johnson smacked a Spartan shot with aggression. Just a nasty block. The Aztec defense is relentless, as Parrish steals the ball quickly after the in-bound pass.

Unfortunately, Johnson missed both of his foul shots after nearly having an and-1 opportunity. That doesn't matter though — because he flushed down a pass from Parrish for another alley oop when the Spartans turned it over again. His athleticism has been on display in many facets of the game tonight.

San Jose State has nine turnovers to SDSU's one.

Spartans call a timeout to slowdown the Aztec run. SDSU leads 29-14.

3:36 remaining, 25-14, SDSU (under 4-minute media timeout): Diallo makes one free throw after he got fouled inside. SDSU brings back the full court pressure, and San Jose St. is frazzled. Arop swats the ball away on a Spartan shot attempt. Seiko misses a three on the ensuing Aztec possession (team is 0-5 from deep).

The Aztecs are 3-8 so far from the line tonight.

It'll be San Jose State's ball coming out of the media timeout. Thanks to the points in the paint, Aztecs lead, 25-14.

5:13 remaining, 24-13, SDSU: Johnson is feeling it tonight: Nothing but net on a jumper. Butler with the assist. The Spartans turned it over again, this time from a bad pass. Ledee grabs an offensive board for SDSU, but he missed two free throws.

SDSU leads 24-13.

6:10 remaining, 22-13, SDSU (under 8-minute media timeout): The aggressive defense seems to paying off for SDSU: The Aztecs scored on back-to-back fast break layups. Keshad Johnson scored with an especially silky smooth euro step, finishing on the other side of the hoop. Butler poked the ball away and went the distance himself on the second fast break score.

After another brick from three-point land by the Spartans (1-10), Keshad Jonhnson threw down on an alley-oop, reigniting the crowd.

SDSU has 18 points in the paint, although they are narrowly out-rebounding the Spartans (16 vs. 14 boards). I will point out that the Aztecs are 0-4 from three, but the looks inside have been too good to pass up.

22-13, Aztecs.

8:32 remaining, SCORE: 16-13, SDSU: Even with open looks, San Jose St. has been cold from deep. They're 1 of 7 from three point land at this point. Butler gets rejected on the other end after making a quick move to the basket. Mensah gets a foul called on him for a screen, and the fans let the refs have it (Bradley made the three pointer that didn't count).

After some quick subs, San Jose walks in the paint. Aztecs lead, 16-13.

11:29 remaining, SCORE: 16-11, SDSU (under 12-minute media timeout): The Aztecs start bringing full court pressure. Scoring in the paint has been the name of the game for SDSU: They have 12 points inside so far, with six of those coming off of second chance opportunities. Jaedon Ledee threw down a nice dunk, and the crowd gave him some love.

San Jose St. is shooting 40% from the field, while SDSU is at 43.8% so far. Darrion Trammell is being aggressive on defense, and he got called for a reach, leading into the media timeout.

16-11, Aztecs.

13:34 remaining, SCORE: 10-7, San Diego State: Parrish, Ledee and Arop check in for the Aztecs. San Jose State throws the ball out of bounds. Butler draws a foul on the baseline, marking the fourth team foul for San Jose State in this one. Butler made one of two foul shots. SDSU with the lead, 10-7.

14:38 remaining, SCORE: 9-7, San Diego State (under 16-minute media timeout): Nate Mensah's presence inside is being felt early in this one. The SDSU big man already has two offensive boards, and his put back layup gives the Aztecs a 9-7 lead. Alvaro Cardenas missed a three on the other end, and Lamont Butler missed a jumper of his own.

Following a travel by San Jose State, the game went into the media timeout. 9-7, Aztecs have the lead.

16:16 remaining, SCORE: 7-7, tie game: Lamont Butler misses a wide open three after a San Jose layup. Adam Seiko checked into the game for Darrion Trammell.

17:07 remaining, SCORE: 5-5, tie game: Following back-to-back misses by SDSU, San Jose St. hits a three. Lamont Butler hit a nice mid range bucket, getting fouled in the process. His foul shot just rolled out of the basket — but Nate Mensah manages to grab an offensive board.

Again, Matt Bradley gets fouled before he gets a shot off. Bradley missed a jumper after the inbound pass.

18:12 remaining, SCORE: 3-2, San Diego State: The Aztecs win the opening tip, and guard Matt Bradley makes a nice move to the basket, scoring and drawing the foul. He converted the 3-point play... can I get an "AND ONE?"

San Jose State responds with a nice baseline floater on the other end. 3-2, Aztecs.

GAME PREVIEW

San Diego State basketball is looking to extend its winning streak to four games as it prepares to take on Mountain West conference foe San Jose State.

The Aztecs (16-4, 7-1 MW) are on top of the conference standings, while San Jose (13-8, 4-4 MW) is in the number four spot.

Guard Adam Seiko was dominant off the bench in Wednesday's game against Utah State, shooting 7 for 9 from three-point land en route to an 85-75 victory. San Jose, meanwhile, is coming off a 30-point beatdown of Air Force, as Omari Moore dropped 26 points in an 82-52 win.

Vegas has SDSU as a double digit favorite in this one, according to multiple sportsbooks.

Once this one is all said and done, the Aztecs will officially be at the halfway mark in conference play on the season. They have a one-win lead in the standings over Nevada and Boise State, who are their next two opponents.

Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. in Viejas Arena. Follow along for live updates from 10News Digital Producer Pat Mueller.