CSUSM men’s basketball team opened the season with a traditional exhibition game against SDSU on Nov. 7 at Viejas Arena, falling  80-42.

“We’re happy with some of the effort that was there… [but] you have to make a lot of shots to counteract their good defense” which ranked top in the nation in field goal percentage last year, said Interim Head Coach B.J. Foster.

Despite scoring first, the Cougars were quickly contained by the Aztecs. In the first five minutes they trailed 13-2, reinforcing Aztec notoriety for lockdown defense at home.

Aztec junior Trey Kell proved hard to contain. During the first 10 minutes, he put away nine of their 19 points.

The Cougars had a spark of life in the last 11 minutes of the half. Eastern Michigan transfer Ethan Alvano made a fast break from former Loyola Marymount Lion Josh Spiers for a three-pointer.

Still, the Cougars trailed, 19-10 and remained scoreless for three possessions until forward Brian Wright took away two points from the Cougar deficit.  

With 17 points in the next 19 possessions, the Aztecs drowned out the Cougars.

An injury to Aztec Matt Shrigley with under a minute to play closed out the half, Cougars down 38-17.

The second half opened with an Aztec dunk from Zylan Cheatham, putting SDSU up, 40-17.

The Cougars had their hands full with guard Jeremy Hemsley, who made two dunks and ten points before Kell entered again.

Even with points from Alvano, Boyd, Wright and Spiers, the Cougars trailed 58-29.

As the clock wound down, Cougar Devin Koeplin added speed to a lackluster offense, his three-pointer closing out the game.

Alvano, who led the team with 14 points, noted that offense will be a point of emphasis prior to the opener.

“[I want to work on] our continuity on offense. We got a lot of guys who are skilled,” the junior said. “Our bigs are good. We have shooters. We have guards. So I think just really gelling together as a team … and understanding where we’re going to be on offense.”

Despite the loss, the Cougars are in similar standing to the 2015-16 Aztec exhibition. They lost that game 86-48.

This season, the Cougars have nine new players on their 15-man roster. Of their starting five: Nick Pallas, Josh Spiers, Joe Boyd, Ethan Alvano and Tyson Kygar, all but Kygar transferred from a Division I program.

As for which players are going to step into the role as offensive leaders, only time will tell.

“[Who is going to lead,] that’s the question … We lost 97, 98 percent of our scoring from last year’s team,” Foster said. “We have a brand new team, brand new system, brand new coaches. The guys have really been terrific. The character of this team is very high … It’s just putting that chemistry together.”

The next chance for the Cougar to test their chemistry is at 3 p.m. on Nov. 11 at Biola. The  first men’s home game is against Redlands at 7 p.m. on Nov. 15. They begin conference play against Humboldt State on Nov. 26.