Fresno State Athletics
San Diego State Beats Liberty In First Game of Tourney
11/9/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 9, 2007
FRESNO, Calif. - The San Diego State Aztecs defeated the University of Liberty 62-50 on Friday in the opening game of the World Vision Classic presented by Pape'.
San Diego State shot 47 percent from the field and held Liberty to 34 percent shooting from the field. San Diego State out rebounded Liberty 32-28, thanks to seven rebounds from Billy White.
Kyle Spain led the Aztecs with 14 points while Billy White had 13 points and Lorenzo Wade had 12.
The game was close early as Liberty led 10-9 with 8:55 left in the first half following a lay up by Rell Porter. San Diego State then scored six straight points to give SDSU a 15-10 lead following a dunk by White with 5:59 until halftime.
San Diego State outscored Liberty 8-2 in the final two minutes of the period to lead 27-19 at halftime. To open the second half, the Aztecs went on a 16-3 run to lead 43-22 following a jumper by Ryan Amoroso with 12:50 left in the game.
San Diego State maintained the double digit lead the rest of the game. Rell Porter led Liberty with 14 points and six rebounds. Anthony Smith added 11 points. Alex McLean grabbed a team-high seven boards.
Steve Fisher Quotes
Lorenzo's getting more and more comfortable as a leader both vocally and in scoring. Tim doesn't play like a freshman. It you count our exhibition games, we have played great defense. If we keep it up it'll be my best defensive team. It was a good win for us. It was a game of spurts. One minute we are up by two and the next minute we are up by 10.
Lorenzo Wade
Vocally I try to keep the guys in the game all 40 minutes.
Tim Shelton
We've got to get the ball inside. It's very exciting to play here. I've missed home.
Liberty coach Ritchie McKay
San Diego State is a good team. We expected Lorenzo and Kyle to have good nights. We have to do a more complete job to win.
