Aztecs keep Mountain West alive in NCAA Tournament

JJ O’Brien made 8-of-12 from the field en route to 18 points as the Aztecs defeated the Red Storm 76-64 in the NCAA Tournament round of 64 in Charlotte, N.C.

Dwayne Polee II, a transfer from St. John’s, made a career-high five 3-pointers to score 15 for eighth-seeded San Diego State (27-8), which will play top-seeded Duke in Sunday’s round of 32. Matt Shrigley made four 3-pointers en route to 12 points while Skylar Spencer added 10 points and seven rebounds for the Aztecs.

Sir’Dominic Pointer led the way with 21 points and 10 rebounds while D’Angelo Harrison scored 18 to go along with nine boards for the ninth-seeded Red Storm (21-12). Rysheed Jordan added 10 points for St. John’s, which made only three of 17 attempts from 3-point range.

St. John’s led by one before Polee made his fourth 3-pointer and O’Brien scored six during a 12-2 burst to give San Diego State a nine-point bulge before it settled for a 40-33 edge at intermission. Polee drained another from behind the arc and O’Brien had two baskets as the Aztecs ran off nine of first 11 points in the second half to push the lead to 49-35.

Jordan had a dunk as the Red Storm scored seven straight points to trim the deficit to 55-48 with 10:20 left in the contest. St. John’s was still down seven when Malik Pope cashed in with a bucket and Shrigley drained a corner 3-pointer for a 65-53 lead with 4:33 to go and the Red Storm never got closer than eight points down the stretch.

GAME NOTEBOOK: San Diego State, which made 9-of-22 from behind the 3-point arc, outscored the Red Storm 24-0 off the bench. … St. John’s was without F Chris Obekpa, who averages 5.8 points and seven rebounds, after he was suspended last Sunday for two weeks due to a violation of team rules. … It is San Diego State’s sixth straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament and the Aztecs have won at least one game in the event four of the last five years.