The guys from San Diego beat the guys from San Diego.
San Diego State held off New Mexico — and its roster and coaching staff stocked with connections to the city — 83-79 on Saturday at soldout Viejas Arena to put the Aztecs alone atop the Mountain West at 7-0 after Utah State lost at Grand Canyon.
“It’s the Mountain West,” SDSU junior Miles Byrd said after his team blew a 15-point lead and trailed by two inside a minute to go. “You live for these types of games, these types of atmospheres. This is definitely one of the games you have circled on the calendar.
“I was just happy we were able to get a win.”
They were because BJ Davis, moments after his turnover led to a Lobos dunk and their first lead in a long while, banked in a jumper from the left side with 11 seconds left to put the Aztecs (13-4) ahead for good.
The real hero?
Miles Heide, the 6-foot-9 Aztecs center who was shooting 38.1% from the line on the season and had missed at least once every time he got there. He was fouled with 56.8 seconds left and the Aztecs down by two points.
Fouled intentionally.
“We know that he’s not the best free-throw shooter,” said Croatian forward Tomislav Buljan said. “I told the coach, and he said that let’s risk and make the foul. … That is the gamble. That was the gamble of the coach.”
Added coach Eric Olen, who spent the previous 21 years at UC San Diego and is an analytics devotee: “I told him to do that. I mean, Heide shoots below 40% from the free-throw line and felt like if he (missed) one of those, we would have the ball and the lead (and) we’re in a good position.”
Make.
Make.
Said Reese Dixon-Waters: “He’s practices them. I’ve seen him practicing them. I had confidence in him.”
Added Byrd: “Big time right there. It’s how you step up in a big moment, a clutch moment. Our whole team is so proud of him.”
Reese Dixon-Waters #39 of San Diego State drives to the basket against Antonio Chol #5 of New Mexico during their game at Viejas Arena on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The Lobos (14-4, 5-2) called timeout and diagrammed a play to re-take the lead, but Byrd snatched his third steal of the night – setting up Davis’ jumper at the other end with the shot clock running down for the final two of his nine points.
The Lobos had one final chance to tie, but freshman Uriah Tenette’s jumper in the lane missed and Dixon-Waters grabbed his ninth rebound with 2.3 seconds left. He was fouled and made both free throws for the four-point margin.
“It’s mental toughness,” coach Brian Dutcher said. “It’s getting down to Boise late after having a big lead and not giving in, making a 3, getting a steal, making another 3. Watching (New Mexico) fight all the way back and take the lead, and then have BJ make such a tough shot with contact on the baseline. And Heide to make two free throws.
“We’ve got a grit about us. We don’t play perfect basketball, but we’re tough-minded and we give ourselves a chance.”
Byrd had maybe his best game of the season, with a box-score-stuffing 21 points, eight rebounds, three assists, three steals and four blocks in 31 minutes – his second career game with at least those numbers in each statistical category. The other: last season against UCSD and Olen.
Pharaoh Compton (12 points), Taj DeGourville (11) and Dixon-Waters (10) also reached double figures for an Aztecs team that shot 49.1% and made seven more free throws than the visitors.
Buljan, a 6-foot-9, 250-pound beast, led the Lobos with 20 points, 18 in the second half. He also had 14 rebounds, seven on the offensive glass as New Mexico roared back from a 15-point deficit early in the second half. Carlsbad High alum Jake Hall added 15 points, and Saint Augustine High alum Luke Haupt had 11.
BJ Davis #10 of San Diego State reacts on the ground during their game against New Mexico at Viejas Arena on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The Aztecs led 48-35 at the half thanks to a 12-0 run, or “kill shot” in the parlance of analytics guru Evan Miyakawa (defined as a debilitating run of 10-0 or greater).
Earlier this week, Miyakawa posted a chart showing “kill shots” created and allowed by the nation’s top teams. SDSU was in a part of graph with teams that get them … and give them up.
“Streaky teams,” Miyakawa called them. “No lead is safe … Lots of big runs for and against.”
The Aztecs, sure enough, surrendered a 10-0 run early in the second, and we had a ball game. Neither team led by more than four points over the final 11 minutes.
Taj Degourville #24, Miles Byrd #21, and Magoon Gwath #0 of San Diego State celebrate during their game against New Mexico at Viejas Arena on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The hosts, though, gutted out a win largely without 7-foot Magoon Gwath, who followed a pair of promising performances with a quieter one, finishing with two points and two rebounds in a mere 10 minutes. He banged an already balky hip early in the game, then got an offensive foul for shoving a player in the second half and never returned.
“He got a frustration foul under the basket,” Dutcher said. “It’s hard to play through frustration. That’s the greatest enemy of any player, is frustration. … It was better for us, at that time, to get him out.
“We know we can’t be the team we want to be to win a title without him. We’ve got to get him healthy and we’ve got to get him confident, playing like he did against Fresno State and like he did at Wyoming. Tonight wasn’t his night, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be his night (Wednesday) against Grand Canyon.”
Notable
Next up: at Grand Canyon on Wednesday in a 9 p.m. local tip (8 p.m. PST, Fox Sports 1). Saturday’s game was the only one at home in a four-game stretch. The Aztecs are at UNLV next weekend.
This is the second time SDSU has opened conference 7-0 under Dutcher. The other was the 15-0 start in 2019-20.
New Mexico is now 12-0 above 4,000 feet this season, and 2-4 below.
One way the Lobos got back in the game was fouling less. SDSU shot 22 free throws in the first half and only eight in the second …
It was the annual ALS Awareness game in honor of Mark Fisher, the son of Steve Fisher.
In attendance: former Aztecs star running back Rashaad Penny.
New Mexico has two members of Olen’s UCSD team last season, Chris Howell and Milos Vicentic. Howell, a Torrey Pines High School alum, has been injured the past month. Vicentic was suited up but didn’t play.