It’s already tough enough to beat San Diego State’s basketball team in the game immediately following a loss.

It’s almost impossible when the next game is at Viejas Arena.

Home court plus angry Aztecs equals easy victory.

It wasn’t as easy as it probably should have been Tuesday night against Wyoming, but it was a victory nonetheless — a 72-63 decision defined by listless play, clanked free throws, the Cowboys’ resilience and ultimately too much Reese Dixon-Waters.0

That made coach Brian Dutcher’s teams 52-11 in games following a loss and 37-2 when it’s at Viejas Arena.

That also momentarily moved the Aztecs (16-6, 10-2) into sole possession of first place in the Mountain West, although they’ll have company Wednesday after Utah State and New Mexico, both 9-2, meet in Albuquerque.

SDSU played for the third straight time without starters Magoon Gwath and Elzie Harrington, and BJ Davis (five points) was in foul trouble for the second straight game.

That just meant more minutes for Dixon-Waters, who had a season-high 23 points on just 10 shots thanks to a 9 of 12 performance at the line.

Miles Byrd was the only other Aztecs player in double figures, with 10 points to go with eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks.

The final margin would have been wider had it not been for 13 missed free throws and 12 Wyoming offensive rebounds, including four on one maddening sequence in the second half that no doubt will be revisited by Aztecs coaches in subsequent film sessions.

But you can slack in those two areas when your defense is as ferocious as it has been lately.

The Cowboys shot a season-low 30.9% in the first meeting, a 74-57 victory that the Aztecs led by as many as 24 points. They shot 32.1% on Tuesday night, and that was after making several baskets in the closing minutes with the outcome no longer in doubt.

Khaden Bennett and Damarion Dennis each had 14 points for Wyoming (13-10, 4-8). Maz Meyer, the Cowboys’ leading scorer in the first meeting, was hobbled by a thigh injury and didn’t score in 13 minutes.

In many respects, the game was similar to the one in Laramie three weeks ago.

The Cowboys couldn’t score inside and settled for contested 3s while the Aztecs pounded it in the paint. The Aztecs let the Cowboys hang around through much of the first half before wearing them down with wave after wave of subs and surging to a 35-24 lead at the break.

SDSU forward Jeremiah Oden spent three years at Wyoming and clearly was fired up to play at the Arena Auditorium on Jan. 14 — maybe too fired up, finishing with three points on 1 of 7 shooting.

He was still aggressive Tuesday night against his former team but more under control, scoring seven points in the first half on 3 of 4 shooting with one assist and one steal.

His 3 from the left corner gave him 1,000 for his career, which also included stops at DePaul in his hometown of Chicago and Charlotte, where he took a medical redshirt last year after breaking his foot shortly before the season.

Notable

Next up: Saturday at Air Force (5 p.m. PST, Fox Sports 1).

• After two straight sellouts, the announced crowd was 11,614, about 600 shy of capacity.

• The Aztecs shot 10 more free throws than the Cowboys but made only three more.

• SDSU finished with a 38-10 advantage in points in the paint, but the bench was outscored for the second straight game, 30-18. That’s 20 points below the Aztecs’ average.

• The score was 12-12 with a timeout with exactly 12:00 left in the first half.

• Wyoming’s Leland Walker fouled out with 5:33 left.