SAN DIEGO – The Cal State San Marcos men's basketball team fell in an exhibition at San Diego State, 80-42, on Monday night in Viejas Arena.

The Cougars took a 2-0 lead on the first shot of the game, a floating jumper in the key from Ethan Alvano, but the Aztecs responded with a 17-0 run and did not look back the rest of the way.

Alvano led CSUSM in scoring with 10 points and a team-high four assists. Brian Wright and Joe Boyd chipped in with seven apiece. Boyd added a team-high 11 rebounds while Josh Spiers pulled down 10 boards.

"It's always great for the guys to come out and play in an environment like we had tonight. To go up against one of the best defensive teams in the country on their home court is valuable experience," said interim head coach B.J. Foster. "I was really pleased with our rebounding tonight, I think we battled with them better on the boards than we have in the past."

CSUSM did pull down 41 rebounds compared with 51 for the Aztecs. The Cougars won the battle on the offensive glass, 16-12.

SDSU, picked to win the Mountain West in the conference's recent preseason poll, held the Cougars to 20.6-percent shooting and forced CSUSM into 22 turnovers. Trey Kell, voted to the preseason all-MW team, scored a game-high 18 points. Reigning MW Co-Freshman of the Year Jalen McDaniels tallied 13.

SDSU also beat CSUSM by 38 in last year's exhibition at Viejas.

"Some positives we can take away from tonight is our work rate and effort underneath the basket. I think we need to work on some things offensively to make sure we're getting and taking the right shots. We'll look at those things in practice the rest of the week and make sure we're ready to go for this weekend," said Foster.

The Cougars' season officially kicks of this weekend in Irvine, as CSUSM takes on Biola Friday and Concordia (Calif.) Saturday.

CSUSM's first home game is on Tuesday, Nov. 15 against Redlands in The Sports Center.