SAN DIEGO -- San Diego State coach Steve Fisher thought about giving Winston Shepard a breather just past the midway mark of the second half in a close game against Air Force. cheap jerseys from china . It turns out the last thing the sophomore forward needed was a spot on the bench. Shepard scored 14 of his 16 points in the final 7 minutes, 14 seconds and the No. 5 Aztecs bounced back from their first loss since mid-November to beat Air Force 64-56 on Saturday night. Shepard started his hot streak by keying a 9-0 run with a 3-pointer, a slam dunk following a steal by Xavier Thames and two free throws. After the Falcons closed to 54-50 with 2:28 to go, Shepard converted a three-point play and hit two more free throws to give SDSU some breathing room. "I was having a tough night up to that point," Shepard said. "Honestly, I have to thank my teammates, X Thames, coach Fish; they stuck with me and had encouraging words for me. I just wanted to go out there and continue to help my team." Shepard made seven of nine free throws. "With the style of basketball I play, being able to handle the ball, I find myself in the paint a lot," he said. "I was taught a rule when I was young, when you get to the paint, at worst, you have to get to the free throw line. Not only that, a lot of the time tonight I wasnt handling the ball. My teammates were finding me under the basket. I have to credit my teammates with that and once again Id like to thank them for sticking with me and finding me in spots." Said Fisher: "I thought it was time for him to get a break and he made a 3 and then made a rebound or steal and we rode with him for a while and he performed. He did a nice job. "Winston is a very, very smart basketball player," Fisher added, noting that hes getting better at passing and shooting free throws. "He knows how to and has the ability to get to the rim. Hes a good player. Hes a hard guard. He played the next play. Sometimes all of us, Winston in particular, if youre not careful you worry about what just happened and all of sudden something negative happens on the next trip. Hes much, much better on that front, and thats allowed him to grow." Thames and Dwayne Polee II each scored 13 points for SDSU (22-2, 11-1 Mountain West), which had its 20-game winning streak snapped Tuesday night at Wyoming. It was SDSUs first loss since a 69-60 home defeat to Arizona on Nov. 14. Josh Davis had 10 rebounds. Max Yon scored 20 and Kamryn Williams 12 for Air Force (10-14, 4-9). The Falcons leading scorer, Tre Coggins, was held to nine points, nearly seven below his average. "They were really on him," coach Dave Pilipovich said of the Aztecs play on Coggins. "They were there on the catch and they are so long with their extra length and size that he couldnt create a little space to create an advantage there." Coggins had 29 points in a 79-72 home loss to the Aztecs on Jan. 13. "Trey had an off night, so somebody had to step up," Yon said. "So Kam Williams and I took over the scoring a little bit, but it just wasnt our night. "I think we handled their pressure better this time around, but they are long. We did a good job rebounding. But being in this environment, with them at home, is an advantage for them. But we are right there and can play with anybody with the way we battled." With the game tied at 28 four minutes into the second half, Thames made consecutive 3-pointers and Polee had a tip-in and then a slam dunk on an alley-oop pass from Shepard to give the Aztecs a 38-28 lead. Air Force closed to 44-40 on Yons three-point play and a reverse layup by DeLovell Earls sandwiched around a 3-pointer by SDSUs Aqeel Quinn. Shepard then came on strong for SDSU during a 9-0 run that gave the Aztecs a 53-40 lead with 5:20 left. Shepard had a 3-pointer, a slam dunk after a steal and pass by Thames and two free throws. JJ OBrien had a bank shot. San Diego State led 24-23 at halftime after scoring 12 of the final 18 points. jerseys from china . Buck finished with two hits for the Indians, while starter Mitch Talbot threw 5 1/3 innings. He gave up two runs (one earned) on three hits and three walks, while striking out two. Niko Gallego and Tony Abreu had RBI doubles for Arizona. wholesale jerseys . -- After enjoying the chance to watch Toronto beat Anaheim, the San Jose Sharks took advantage of a tired Maple Leafs team to move closer to the Ducks in the standings.MIAMI -- It was May 2004. The game, the series and the season were on the line, with Miami trailing Indiana by three points. And Dwyane Wade watched what became the final seconds from the Heat bench. He wasnt one of Miamis best options at that moment. A bit has changed since his rookie year. Wade still looks at the 2004 Eastern Conference semifinals against the Pacers as both a breakthrough and a learning experience. Eight years later, theyll meet again in the East semis, this time with the Heat in the role of heavy favourite and Indiana in the role of upstart -- a reversal from what was the case in the most recent playoff matchup between the franchises. "It was a fun series for me," Wade said. "No expectations. Just go out there, whatever we did in that series was a plus. That team was a 60-something win team that year, I believe. They had a very good team and I thought we did a great job of pushing them to the brink as much as possible. Obviously, it was one of my favourite all-time series because it was one of my first ones. I think thats when I made a little name for myself, in that series." The name has grown a bit since. So have the expectations. Indiana was the top overall seed in the 2004 playoffs and title favourites after a 61-win season. Miami was the team that scrambled just to get into the playoffs that year. This time around, its the Heat in title-or-bust mode, while the Pacers know theres little in the way of pressure on them in this matchup. Game 1 is Sunday in Miami. "We took a big step last year getting back into the playoffs and ever since that minute we came back with the mindset that we wanted to advance further than we did last year so were very happy to get this W and advance," Pacers coach Frank Vogel said this week after his team ousted Orlando from the first round. "Were not happy with just getting that, though. We feel like this is just the beginning of a big run." Thats sort of how Wade felt eight years ago. Miami lost its first seven games of Wades rookie season, which started amid tumult after Stan Van Gundy took over as coach during the preseason when Pat Riley decided to step away. In early March, Miami was 25-36 and wasnt even among the top eight teams in the East. All that changed with a 17-4 finish that not only got the Heat into the playoffs but earned the team a No. wholesale nfl jerseys. 4 seed and home-court in the first round. They wound up taking Indiana to six games, falling at home 73-70 in the deciding game. Van Gundys decision to take Wade out for the final seconds was easy -- even though Wade more than doubled anyone elses total with 10 points in the final quarter of Game 6, he had made only 16 3-pointers that season. Rafer Alston made 161, and the Heat needed one from beyond the arc to force overtime, so Alston came in for the rookie with 12.4 seconds left. The miracle 3 didnt happen, and Wades first Heat year came to an end. He averaged 21 points in that series, shooting 49 per cent. And he was noticed, too. "The Heat is a team that is going to be a force to be reckoned with," Pacers guard Reggie Miller said on the night Indiana eliminated Miami in 2004. Of course, Miller was right. Two years later, Wade was an NBA champion and finals MVP. Now its Indiana that might be on the rise. The Pacers needed five games to get past Orlando and earn a second-round matchup with the reigning East champs, and although the Heat took three of four from Indiana in the regular season, they are already saying that this series might be far tougher than most prognosticators would imagine. "This next series, Im sure, will feel like its played in a cage rather than a basketball court," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "Itll be extremely physical." It also might lack certain elements that came out in the New York-Miami series. The Heat and Knicks had some great playoff battles from 1997 through 2000, fueled in large part by Rileys decision to leave New York and take over in Miami. Theres no great backstory of animus between Miami and Indiana, teams that have met in the post-season just the one time eight years ago. Wade doesnt mind that part. He said theres no reason to expect an easy series. "From the media hype, obviously the Knicks and Miami is a ticket-seller," Wade said. "Miami-Indiana, from the outside when it comes to hype, wont be the same. But this team right here is a better team. Theyve proved it all year. Its going to be a tougher series for us. But it wont be grabbing headlines like the Knicks and Miami series." wholesale jerseys ' ' '
