Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SAN DIEGO (AP) - Winston Shepard scored 21 points and Dwayne Polee had 19 points and 12 rebounds as No. 20 San Diego State overwhelmed tiny St. Katherine College 118-35 on Friday night for its ninth straight win.
SDSU (10-1) finished a three-game stretch against outmanned teams. The competition gets considerably tougher when the Aztecs open Mountain West Conference play at Colorado State on Wednesday and then visit No. 16 Kansas on Jan. 5.
The 83-point win was San Diego State's largest victory margin since moving to Division I in 1970-71. The previous largest was 60 points, 128-68 over Morgan State on Dec. 1, 1984. The Aztecs became the first Division I team since Oregon State in 2000 to hold three straight opponents under 40 points.
Joshua White led the Firebirds (2-12) with nine points.
St. Katherine College, a tiny orthodox Christian school in northern San Diego County, is playing its inaugural season of hoops. In their only other games against Division I teams, the Firebirds lost 107-36 at Weber State and 88-39 to Utah Valley.
Their latest mismatch started when 6-foot-10 Skylar Spencer controlled the opening tip against 6-7 Jonathan Wood, the Firebirds' tallest starter. Matt Shrigley hit a 3-pointer and SDSU raced to leads of 13-1, 27-3 and 43-10.
The Firebirds at least hit the rim on their first six shots, with their first air ball coming on their seventh shot, by White. St. Katherine's first point, a free throw by Alex Perez, pulled the Firebirds to 13-1. Their first field goal, a left-handed shot by Dante Miller, made it 20-3 with 12:30 to go in the first half.
The Aztecs led 63-17 at halftime. They played without Josh Davis, who had wisdom teeth pulled earlier in the week.
SDSU made it 100-31 on a 3-pointer by Aqeel Quinn with 6:09 to go.
Quinn scored 14 points, Shrigley 12 and Xavier Thames and Spencer 10 apiece for SDSU.
The Firebirds were scheduled to catch an early morning flight for a game at Utah on Saturday afternoon.
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
