SPOKANE, Wash. — Xavier Thames sent San Diego State home — as in back to the sunshine of California and a spot in the Sweet 16 for the second time in school history
Whether he was dropping 3-pointers, finessing floaters in the lane or leading the Aztecs’ suffocating defense, Thames would not let North Dakota State become this year’s version of Florida Gulf Coast.
Thames scored 30 points, and fourth-seeded San Diego State ended the NCAA Tournament run of No. 12 seed North Dakota State 63-44 on Saturday.
The Aztecs (31-4) now get to make the short drive up the interstate to Anaheim, Calif., where they will face either No. 1 seed Arizona or eighth-seeded Gonzaga in the West Regional semifinals on Thursday.
Getting to Anaheim became the unspoken goal the second the brackets were released last Sunday.
“Like Coach said, it was a two-game tournament and we wanted to get two wins,” Thames said. “That’s what we did.”
Thames, who was 9-of-19 from the field, had five assists and ended the comeback hopes of the Bison with a six-point spurt late in the second half that pushed the Aztecs’ lead to 12. He finished one shy of his career-high in points.
Dwayne Polee II was the only other San Diego State player in double figures with 15, but the Aztecs didn’t need a ton of scoring with Thames carrying the load and another defensive performance that suffocated the best-shooting team in the country.
The only other time San Diego State reached the round of 16 was in 2011, when they lost to Connecticut.
“It was huge doing what we did in the regular season, to earn that four seed and now have the opportunity to play where we don’t have to worry about airplanes,” San Diego State coach Steve Fisher said.
Kory Brown led the Bison (26-7) with 13 points, but it was the struggles of leading scorer Taylor Braun that had North Dakota State trying to play catch up. Braun missed nine straight shots during one stretch. Sometimes he was guarded by Thames. Other times it was J.J. O’Brien taking a turn on the Summit League player of the year.
The teary-eyed Bison weren’t ready to see this run come to an end.
“It’s only the greatest professional week of my life,” Bison coach Saul Phillips said. “I got to watch a group of guys that deserved it, who wanted it so bad and made it a priority in their life and did everything I asked them to do.”