For those wondering what San Diego State’s basketball team might look like with a shorter rotation, they got their wish Wednesday night.

The 11-man rotation became nine when starters Magoon Gwath and Elzie Harrington were both scratched with injuries.

The result: The Aztecs looked pretty much the same as before, rolling to another Mountain West victory, this one 73-50 against Colorado State at soldout Viejas Arena that kept them in first place heading into Saturday’s showdown at second-place Utah State.

Gwath’s absence was expected. He has now missed three games with a hip injury, although coach Brian Dutcher has not ruled out a return as soon as Saturday.

Harrington initially was listed as questionable on the Mountain West’s availability report Tuesday night but was switched to “out” two hours before the 7:30 p.m. tip. He is believed to have a nagging leg injury that he played through for much of the season, so Wednesday’s decision to sit him might be more for rest ahead of the trip to Logan.

BJ Davis started in place of Harrington and had nine points to go with five assists and two steals after failing to score in a season-low 13 minutes Saturday at UNLV.

Reese Dixon-Waters had 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting, many of them on tough, contested jumpers at the shot clock buzzer. Pharaoh Compton added 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting in just 18 minutes. Miles Byrd had 10 points, only the second time he’s reached double figures in the game following his seven career 20-point performances.

The Rams (12-9, 3-7) had no one in double figures for the first time since December 2020. That’s because they shot a season-low 33.3% and had 17 turnovers that the Aztecs converted into 32 points.

The Aztecs (15-5, 9-1) overcame a slow start with runs of 9-0, 9-2 and 8-0 that ultimately gave them an 11-point lead against a team that struggled to get the ball across midcourt and initiate its offense. And for the eighth time in the last 10 games, they shot at least 50% in the first half.

The Rams had 21 turnovers Saturday in a four-point loss against Utah State and had nine more in the first half Wednesday. They also shot under 40% (10 of 27), had long stretches without a basket and had zero fast-break points.

And yet, they were down only 33-27 at intermission because they kept getting offensive rebounds off missed 3s (seven) and had nine more points from behind the arc than the hosts.

The part about no fast break points wasn’t surprising. The Rams entered the night ranked 365th out of 365 Division I teams in tempo, averaging under 62 possessions per game and a tedious 19.3 seconds per possession.

Their plan was simple. Run the shot clock down, make you play defense for 20 or 25 seconds, shorten the game and hope to hang around deep into the second half.

Didn’t happen.

The Rams fouled Miles Byrd on an attempted 3 at the shot clock buzzer to open the second half, then turned it over, then watched Dixon-Waters drain a fallaway contested jumper at the shot clock buzzer, then shot an airball.

They were down 14 before they scored in the second half, then 20, then 25.

With 2:08 left, we had a Thokbor Majak sighting, much to the pleasure of the remaining fans in Viejas Arena.

Notable

Next up: at Utah State on Saturday in a CBS-televised game with a rare morning tip (11 a.m. local time, 10 a.m. PST).

• Sitting courtside was Lamont Butler, who received a standing ovation when he was introduced during a first-half timeout. Butler was set to play for the Atlanta Hawks’ G League affiliate but tore his ACL and is sidelined for the season.

• After a string of no-name officiating crews, the quality has increased notably in recent games. Wednesday’s crew: Nate Harris, Kevin Brill and Amy Bonner. All three worked games in the NCAA Tournament last season.

• Dutcher challenged an out-of-bounds call in the first half that was reversed after video review.