LARAMIE, Wyo. — During pregame handshakes between coaching staffs, Wyoming head coach Sundance Wicks handed San Diego State counterpart Brian Dutcher a parting gift in the Aztecs’ final game at the Arena-Auditorium before leaving for the Pac-12 next season.

It was a silver tube with a green top.

An oxygen canister.

Nice gesture, but Dutcher and his team didn’t need it.

Dipping into his bench early and often, the Aztecs looked like they were the team acclimated to the 7,220 feet of elevation, literally running past Wyoming for a convincing 74-57 farewell win in the high plains Wednesday night that kept them undefeated in the Mountain West.

By halftime, the Aztecs had a 9-0 advantage in fast-break points – and even that seemed bit low — and led by 13. BJ Davis added an exclamation point by dribbling the length of the floor with six seconds left, around and through the entire Cowboys defense, for a layup that just beat the halftime buzzer.

It’s a lot easier to run when you’re not pulling the ball out of the net, and the Aztecs weren’t. The Cowboys shot just 24.1% in the first half (5 of 19 on 3s) and went five minutes without a basket. In the second half, they had a stretch with one basket over nearly seven minutes.

At the other end, the visitors from sea level got a balanced scoring effort, with six players between seven and Reese Dixon-Waters’ 13 points (on 5 of 9 shooting). Eleven different players scored, 10 had rebounds and eight had assists.

That improves the Aztecs to 12-4 overall and 6-0 in conference, which is either alone on top or tied with Utah State depending on Wednesday night’s late game between the Aggies and Nevada.

That improves Dutcher to 14-1 against Wyoming as a head coach and 5-0 at the Arena-Auditorium, a venue where a pair of ranked Aztecs teams lost in back-to-back seasons in 2013 and 2014, once when they scored nine points in the first half and the following year when they were No. 5 riding a 20-game win streak.

They even tempted fate, wearing the all-red uniforms that were “retired” for several years, in part, because of the bad memories from the 2014 loss here.

Demons, exorcized.

“I think it’s a mental thing,” SDSU senior Jeremiah Oden, who spent three seasons with the Cowboys, said of being on the other side of the highest elevation in Division I. “When I played at Wyoming, there were teams that came in there and it got to them mentally, and there were teams that just didn’t care.

“I think we just have to tell ourselves that we’re going to be one of those teams that don’t care and just go and hoop.”

And that’s what they did. After missing six of their first eight shots, the Aztecs were 11 of 18 the rest of the first half and built a double-digit lead.

Dutcher had already used 10 players before the under-16 minute media timeout, then got a spark when he put in the 11th, freshman forward Tae Simmons (10 points, 4 of 6 shooting).

A key moment came with 43 seconds left in the half and the Aztecs up 11. The officials called a 10-second violation, only to review it and realize the shot clocks had started early. The Aztecs got the ball back and scored.

The Cowboys (11-6, 2-4) tried to rally and get the crowd involved in the second half, briefly getting within 10 and compelling a timeout from Dutcher.

But the Aztecs had a counterpunch for every Cowboys jab – a Miles Byrd drive that drew two free throws, a jump hook off the glass from Pharaoh Compton, a 3 from Magoon Gwath, a Taj DeGourville 3, a Dixon-Waters jumper.

Midway through the second half, the margin swelled to 24. Even with a 4½-minute SDSU scoreless drought, the Cowboys could only trim it to 17.

Notable

Next up: Saturday at Viejas Arena against New Mexico and former UC San Diego coach Eric Olen … Guard Sean Newman Jr. limped off with 13:12 left with what appeared to be a sprained ankle … The team went straight to the Laramie airport for a charter flight home … Fun fact: A concession stand in the concourse of the Arena-Auditorium sells sushi … The officiating crew included Mike Littlewood, who worked the infamous 2003 Aztecs here when Wyoming coach Steve McClain was ejected and gave the crowd a technical foul for throwing a chewing tobacco tin on the floor, among other items … With Wyoming still on university break, the only students in attendance were other athletes. The swim and dive team wore togas, then took them off to reveal their swimsuits for the second half.