It was a game-winning jumper that lifted the San Diego State Aztecs into their first national title matchup.

And it was a jumper that ultimately doomed the Aztecs once they got there.

Only UConn’s Jordan Hawkins will get far less attention than Lamont Butler did for his.

Hawkins’ 3-pointer with 5 minutes, 4 seconds left in the game lacked Butler’s drama, and the Huskies did not storm the floor when it landed, but it was the pivotal play in a game full of them, helping lift UConn to its 5th national title with a 76-59 win.

It is not a play that will go down in UConn history, and statues likely won’t be put of Hawkins all around Storrs, but what the shot lacked in histrionics it made up for in heroism. It’s just as meaningful to put the brakes on a team that feels it is on a date with destiny as it is to beat the buzzer, and that’s what Hawkins did.

When you’re flirting with danger, sometimes all you need is an extinguisher.

*****

College basketball pundits across the country spent the previous 40-plus hours hammering home the point that San Diego State would need to play a near-perfect game on Monday night to have any chance against the favored UConn Huskies.

I’m not so sure perfection would have mattered.

After SDSU got off two quick 3-pointers to pull ahead, 6-2, just minutes into the game, UConn went on a terrifying 20-6 run, forcing turnovers, creating bad shots for SDSU and plenty of space for themselves. The Huskies threw wave after wave of tough, big, gritty, Big East-battled bigs at the Aztecs, who were half overwhelmed by the moment and half overwhelmed by UConn’s interior size and skill.

San Diego State missed 14 straight shots at one point in the first half, finishing the half just 8-of-28 from the field. The Aztecs, typically a team that takes care of the ball, had 9 turnovers, including 3 by Saturday’s hero, Butler. It wasn’t just one SDSU player, either. Four Aztecs — starting forward Nathan Mensah and backups Aguek Arop, Adam Seiko and Micah Parrish — went a combined 0-for-13 from the field in the first half.

“We got off to a red-hot start in the game offensively, then AG (Arop) had a post-up where he missed a jump hook, had a roll to the basket, got it blocked,” SDSU coach Brian Dutcher said. “Had another play we got to the rim. Those are plays you have to make over their length if you’re going to have a chance to win the game.”

By the 4-minute mark in the first half, the Aztecs trailed by 16 and the Huskies looked like the team that had stomped all over their NCAA Tournament opponents to the tune of a plus-103 scoring margin in the first five games.

After the game, SDSU assistant coach David Velasquez said it was a small victory to trim the Huskies’ halftime margin to just a dozen points.

“It was an incredible job by our guys to fight through that stretch,” Velasquez said. “There were many other teams that were not able to cut it to 5 against that team. Our guys kept fighting and fighting and fighting just to cut it to 12 at halftime. We thought in the locker room it was huge for us to only have it down 12. We truly felt 2 or 3 stops away, and our whole goal was to get it to 6 by the 10-minute mark, and we got it to 5 with 7 minutes left. When you play a team like that you can’t miss opportunities at the rim and the free-throw line.”

UConn shot 50 percent from the field in the first half compared to 28.6 percent for the Aztecs, connected on 38 percent from 3 and maintained a 16-6 advantage in points in the paint.

“Their length bothered us at the rim,” Dutcher said. “Jaedon (LeDee) had a tough time finishing. Finally went through the body more in the second half, but they’re the hottest team in college basketball. We thought we’d have a chance.”

And they did. Because they’re San Diego State. And they can make believers out of anyone.

*****

With 9:50 left in the game, UConn’s Joey Calcaterra — a transfer from the University of San Diego — curled around a screen and drained his second timely 3-pointer of the game. This one put the Huskies up 15 and sapped the energy from what appeared to be a pro-San Diego State crowd.

But just as they have throughout the tournament, the Aztecs finally put up a fight.

It’s not advisable to eventually swing back once you’re already on the ropes, but San Diego State has made a living down on points and with the other guy bearing down.

First, LeDee, who’d been tortured by UConn’s twin towers of Adama Sanogo and Donovan Clingan throughout the game, hit a nice little jumper. Then another. Then Keshad Johnson hit a 3-pointer, followed by a steal-and-layup that cut UConn’s lead to 6.

“That’s one thing about this team, man, we’re going to claw, we’re going to fight and we ain’t going to give up until it says triple zeroes,” LeDee said. “That’s just the identity of us. That’s what got us here. UConn kept us at arm’s reach, but we weren’t going to quit.”

SDSU’s mini-run ignited the crowd. Could it be? Could the Aztecs really come from behind like they had against Florida Atlantic, when they rallied from a 14-point deficit with under 14 minutes to play?

“I’m not going to lie, they have a lot of weapons,” Bradley said. “They were pretty good. To beat them, we had to make shots. I shot poorly, and you had to have a really good gam to beat those dudes on the offensive end. But defensively, we fought hard. We cut it to 5.”

And then…Hawkins.

He’d finish with 16 points on the day, including his massive 3-pointer, one of three Huskies in double-figures, along with Sanogo and Tristen Newton, who led all scorers with 19.

“We keep our composure, man,” Hawkins said. “We have a great coach — an unbelievable coach. We have an unbelievable team. Man, it is absolutely amazing what God can do man. It doesn’t matter what we go through, we are going to stick together no matter what.”

Several minutes after the game ended, Velasquez stood in the SDSU locker room and shook his head.

“We got here with players making plays in March, and that’s what he did,” Velasquez said. “He stepped up and made an incredible shot against an incredible defense. That was an unbelievable shot against a contested hand, and we were all over him.”