Love was in the air Saturday night at Viejas Arena.<\/p>\n
Members of the San Diego pep band, students in The Show and some seasoned citizens in the stands wore red shirts with \u201cI (heart) Aztec Basketball\u201d on the front.<\/p>\n
Nevada players wore shirts during warmups that read \u201cChoose Love\u201d on the right shoulder.<\/p>\n
Fans were asked to choose from among the songs \u201cDJ Got Us Fallin in Love,\u201d \u201cPaint the Town Red\u201d and \u201cCrazy in Love\u201d to be featured in the second half.<\/p>\n
And the officials were showered with cheers the moment they stepped on Steve Fisher Court. Ha. Nope, not even on Valentine\u2019s Day. They were lustily booed at every opportunity.<\/p>\n
SDSU (18-6,12-2) moved back into a share of first place with Utah State in the Mountain West with a 71-57 victory over Nevada, which suffered its annual heartbreaker at Viejas, where the Wolf Pack is 0-14 this century.<\/p>\n
SDSU had a comfortable 36-35 halftime lead, the margin equal to the 11 points scored by Aztecs guard Reese Dixon-Waters in the opening period. It was the 14th straight game in double figures for Dixon-Waters.<\/p>\n
Actually, comfortable is the wrong word when it comes to the Aztecs. And things got as anxious as a guy on a first date with the prettiest girl in school. That 11-point lead? Gone 4 1\/2 minutes into the second half after Nevada went on a 13-2 run to make it 38-38. The tying basket came on an emphatic dunk by Wolf Pack forward Elijah Price.<\/p>\n
The Aztecs responded with a run of their own, scoring 13 straight points in a surge highlighted by two 3-pointers by guard BJ Davis and another from forward Magoon Gwath, who returned after missing six games with a hip injury.<\/p>\n
The sudden surge made it 51-38, and the Aztecs had some breathing room again.<\/p>\n
Dixon-Waters led the Aztecs with 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Gwath added 13 \u2013 nine of them coming when he went 3-for-3 from 3-point range. Davis turned a 4-of-12 shooting night into a 14-point performance thanks to a pair of 3s and a 4-for-4 showing at the free-throw line.<\/p>\n
Gwath did not start, but was the first player off the bench \u2014 the crowd greeting him with \u201cGooooon\u201d \u2014 when he came in for Jeremiah Oden with 16:47 left in the first half.<\/p>\n
The bulky knee brace protecting Gwath\u2019s surgically-repaired right knee was replaced with a neoprene sleeve.<\/p>\n
The 7-foot sophomore forward made an immediate impact during a 3 1\/2-minute stint, forcing Price to alter a shot under the basket and grabbing the rebound.<\/p>\n
Moments later, Gwath took a pass from teammate Miles Byrd and looked to dunk. He was fouled before reaching the rim, but made both free throws to give the Aztecs their first lead at 7-6 with 15:52 on the clock.<\/p>\n
Gwath returned later in the half and hit a 3-pointer from the top of the arc that provided a 26-13 Aztecs advantage with 6:52 left in the half. He had five points and three blocks in 6 1\/2 minutes or work in the first half.<\/p>\n
Notable<\/p>\n