Poor shooting dooms Golden Lions in 79-43 loss to No. 25 San Diego State

SAN DIEGO – When Arkansas-Pine Bluff pulled into a 6-6 tie with No. 25 San Diego State, it was the best it was going to get for the Golden Lions.

Both teams were shooting poorly then. It got better for the Aztecs, but not as much for the Golden Lions.

Jamaal Franklin had 15 points and 12 rebounds, and Chase Tapley added 15 points to lead San Diego State to a 79-43 victory against cold-shooting Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Wednesday night.

Freshman Skylar Spencer had 12 points while DeShawn Stephens added 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Aztecs (3-1), whose schedule gets tougher. They play at Southern California on Sunday night and then face No. 11 UCLA for the first time since 1991, in the Wooden Classic at Anaheim on Dec. 1.

This was the fourth of 11 straight away games for the Golden Lions (1-3) to start the season. They don't play a home game until January, when they start conference play.

San Diego State led 36-14 at halftime. It was the fewest points the Aztecs allowed in the opening 20 minutes since holding Wyoming to 13 on Jan. 19, 2008.

The Golden Lions was only 6 of 26 (23.1 percent) in the first half and 18 of 54 (33.3 percent) overall.

San Diego State had an off-night, too, shooting 13 of 36 (36.1 percent) in the first half and 27 of 65 (41.5 percent) overall.

San Diego State shot the ball very well," Golden Lions coach George Ivory said. "I think any time you make 11 3's, you're shooting pretty good. I thought they did a great job defensively. They played hard throughout the entire game. That's what I expect out of a team ranked 25th in the country."

Davon Haynes had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Golden Lions and Mitchell Anderson had 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Both teams were cold early and the game was tied 6-6 not quite eight minutes in.

San Diego State began pulling away behind 3-point shots from Tapley and Franklin and an inside shot by transfer Dwayne Polee. Xavier Thames extended the run to 9-0 with a free throw that made it 15-6.

After the Golden Lions pulled to 15-10, San Diego State went on a 16-0 run that put it away at 31-12.

Tapley had two 3-poiners, LaBradford Franklin had another and DeShawn Stephens had an alley-oop slam off a pass from Franklin.

"We have to shoot the ball better from the 3-point line and the free throw line," Ivory said. "But they are a great basketball team and I hope we can take something from this and learn how to be aggressive and execute the way they did."

The game marked the end of a three-game NCAA suspension for SDSU freshman Winston Shepard for violating preferential treatment legislation.