Aztecs come from behind to beat No. 6 Houston in Las Vegas – NBC 7 San Diego

If they want to return to their third straight Sweet 16, San Diego State will have to beat some really good teams. If their early season schedule is any indication, they have the pieces to do it… and they’re figuring out how those pieces fit together quicker than most people expected.

The Aztecs topped Houston, the sixth-ranked team in the country, 73-70 in overtime in the third-place game at the inaugural Players Era Festival in Las Vegas.

Things weren’t looking good for the men from Montezuma Mesa for a while. They fell behind 40-29 with 15 minutes to play, which is not the position you want against a team expected to compete for a national title. The young Aztecs grew quickly, led by dynamic sophomore Miles Byrd.

The left-hander started and finished a comeback, hitting a 3-pointer to get the SDSU offense going and hitting two free throws with 13 seconds left to tie the game at 65 and force overtime. Byrd scored 13 of his 18 points in the period, a team-high, and once he started hitting, so did everyone else.

Freshman Pharaoh Compton, a Las Vegas native, had the best game of his budding career with 13 points off the bench. Senior transfers Nick Boyd (12 points, six assists) and Jared Coleman-Jones (16 points, five rebounds) both scored timely goals down the stretch.

In overtime, it was Byrd and Boyd (perhaps a backfield we could call “The Killer B’s?”) who hit back-to-back layups to put SDSU ahead by five with 43 seconds left and the Cougars Time was running out to improve her own comeback. The Aztecs improve to 4-2 this season and return from Vegas with wins over the No. 6 and No. 21 teams in the country. That’s not a bad way to spend a week in Sin City.

SDSU will receive $1.15 million in cash for its performance in the tournament, a huge infusion of cash for a middle school that has proven it is among the best basketball programs in the country. Next up for the Aztecs is a trip to Fresno State on Wednesday, which sees the Mountain West Conference open unusually early. They then finish 2024 with four straight games at Viejas Arena, beginning with a cross-city rivalry game against the University of San Diego on Saturday, December 7th.