Brian Dutcher is on quite a roll calling timeouts. They are a feel thing, understanding the mental needs of your players while allowing them to learn how to work through rough patches themselves, balancing time and score with momentum while knowing when the next “free” media timeout is coming, gauging the shock value of burning one instead of waiting. On Saturday at Boise State, Dutcher called one with 6:43 left and the score tied, and the Aztecs responded with a 7-0 run that changed the game en route to a road win against the preseason Mountain West favorite. On Wednesday at Viejas Arena against the team picked to finish last, he burned one with 11:01 left when the next stoppage would have been a media timeout. And changed the game. The Aztecs would beat Air Force 67-38, but the final score doesn’t begin to tell the story. The hosts trailed 20-8 when Dutcher made his hands into a T … and responded with a 40-4 run to turn catastrophe into celebration, lethargy into laugher. “You’re mad at the guys because they’re not playing well,” Dutcher said, “but you know it’s early in the game and if you start yelling at them, you take them out of any mental state where they can come back and play well. We had enough conversation where we told them areas we needed to get better in. … That’s a credit to the kids, not getting down and let the coaches take them out of rhythm because they weren’t playing well. “They had confidence in themselves, they believed in the game plan and they came out and just performed better.” Air Force coach Joe Scott, whose team dropped to 3-12 overall and 0-4 in the Mountain West, put it like this: “Let’s just be (honest), they’re better than us. That’s really all it comes down to. They’re better than us.” It falls into the all’s-well-that-ends-well category. The computer metrics that have become so influential in NCAA Tournament selection and seeding don’t know that you missed 16 of 19 shots to open the game, only how it finished. It’s not enough to just win anymore. The Kenpom metric projected a 23-point Aztecs victory, and to know what would happen if they fell 15 or 20 points short, consider the cautionary tale of Utah State at home last Saturday against last-place Fresno State. Kenpom projected a 24-point Aggies win. They trailed by 18, came back and won by six. And dropped six spots in Kenpom and 13 in the NET. The Aztecs (10-3, 3-1) won by 29 and climbed one spot in Kenpom, to a season-high 32. It was the 17th straight win against Air Force at Viejas Arena and the fewest points allowed by SDSU since 2017 (and the third fewest allowed by SDSU in a Mountain West game). Dutcher was without backup bigs Miles Heide and Demarshay Johnson Jr., both out sick with a flu bug going through the team. He did get back Pharaoh Compton, who missed the Boise State game with a sprained ankle. But with only three bigs available, he opted to go small early and sub in 6-0 Wayne McKinney III for 7-0 Magoon Gwath just three minutes into the game and play with four guards. It didn’t go well. Air Force went on a 17-2 run, and a 6-3 lead quickly became a 20-8 deficit. Timeout, Aztecs. Dutcher: “When you’re not playing well, you have to take a timeout. And we weren’t playing well.”BJ Davis: “It’s like, man. It’s an eye-opening moment.” Jared Coleman-Jones: “Coach Dutch, he pretty much gives you a look. You already know coming to the huddle that, lock in, we’re not playing to our standards.” Scott: “I said, ‘You guys know what he’s doing in that timeout over there. You know what’s being said.’ And are we going to respond?” What followed was some of their best basketball of the season, albeit against an overmatched opponent. The big growth was not playing down to the level of the competition but up to their own lofty standards – something they’ve been able to do regularly away from Viejas Arena but not always inside it. The Aztecs closed the first half on a 25-4 run, then smashed the pedal to the floor in the second. The defense was ferocious, forcing shot-clock violations or contested heaves at the buzzer, creating offense with steals that became fast-break dunks, forcing 20 turnovers than resulted in 24 points. The Falcons went nearly 10 minutes without a basket, and that was a questionable goaltending call against Jared Coleman-Jones on a shot that appeared to still be on its way up. They went nearly 11 minutes without one actually going through the basket. And that was it for second-half baskets. The Falcons shot 2 of 16 overall and 1 of 10 behind the arc. “We were just dialed in defensively,” Davis said. “All five guys out there were connected and playing for each other, and it led us to get multiple stops, one after another.” Davis was also dialed in offensively. The sophomore guard had two points in the game’s opening 21-plus minutes, then 11 – yes, 11 – over the next two. 18:21 left: 3 from the right wing. 17:43: jumper off the dribble from the free-throw line. 17:08: contested 3 from the left corner (a classic heat check). 16:26: deep 3 from the left wing (a heat check on the heat check). Davis finished with 15 points. Nick Boyd had 16 points and five steals. Coleman-Jones had his first double-double (10 points, 14 rebounds) of the season that included, impressively, 10 offensive boards. The biggest cheer of the night, though, was reserved for Brown transfer (and Francis Parker High alum) Kimo Ferrari, who got his first extended action of the season and weaved through traffic for a layup. He also had four rebounds (three offensive) and a steal, and nearly had a couple 3s drop in 20 minutes. The Aztecs still struggled at times against the matchup zone, shooting a season-low 36.2% (although it was a more palatable 44% after the 3 of 19 start). But they compensated on the offensive boards, grabbing 24 to Air Force’s two and holding a 22-3 edge in second-chance points. The 49-24 margin in total rebounds is Air Force’s largest-ever deficit in a Mountain West game. “In college basketball, that’s all the game is,” Scott said. “It doesn’t matter. Everybody runs the same stuff. There ain’t nobody inventing new basketball stuff. It’s just who can play competitively that way, and they’re really good at it.” Notable Next up: at New Mexico in a rare morning tip (11 a.m. MST, 10 a.m. PST on CBS). The Aztecs then return home for a pair of games next week, against Colorado State on Tuesday and UNLV on Saturday … The fewest points allowed in a half by SDSU in Dutcher’s eight seasons as head coach is 11, by Colorado State last year. Air Force was on track before surpassing it in the closing minutes … The 38 points were the fewest by Air Force since March 1, 2017, also against SDSU … The 20 forced turnovers are a season high by the Aztecs against a Division I opponent … Ethan Taylor led Air Force with 11 points, but nine came on three early 3s. Luke Kearney had nine points, and no one else with more than six … Official Randy Richardson might want to start looking at property in San Diego. This was already the sixth time this season he has worked a SDSU game (and third time at Viejas Arena). It is rare for any one official to have the same team more than three or four times in a season. San Diego State’s bench celebrates during their game against Air Force at Viejas Arena on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)   San Diego State forward Jared Coleman-Jones goes up for a shot against Air Force guard Chase Beasley and center Wesley Celichowski during their game at Viejas Arena on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)   San Diego State guard BJ Davis goes up for a shot against Air Force guard Jeffrey Mills during their game at Viejas Arena on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)