With the Aztecs moving to the Pac 12 Conference in July, this is the last season San Diego State and New Mexico will be together in the Mountain West Conference. If we could get these schools to schedule some non-conference matchups, it would be great for the fan bases because these teams always seem to play exciting games against one another.

They did it again on Saturday night at Viejas Arena. Junior guard B.J. Davis banked home a jumper to snap a 79-79 tie with 10 seconds left to help the Aztecs to an 83-79 win over the Lobos, preserving SDSU’s perfect conference record.

Miles Byrd played without question his best game of the season. The junior guard found his shot, making five of his nine shots (3-for-6 from 3-point range) and eight of nine free throws to finish with a game-high 21 points. Byrd also showed off the all-around game that has NBA teams interested, adding eight rebounds, three assists, three steals, and four blocks.

The Aztecs built a 15-point lead but the Lobos are led by 1st-year coach Eric Olen. He’s the guy who took U.C. San Diego from Division-II power to the NCAA Tournament in their first year of eligibility. The dude can coach. New Mexico mounted a methodical comeback, finally pulling into a tie when Point Loma Nazarene transfer Luke Haupt knocked down a 3-pointer to tie it 73-73.

The Lobos took a brief lead when Tomislav Buljan, a freshman forward from Croatia, grabbed an errant pass and went in for a dunk. Buljan scored 18 of his 20 points in the 2nd half and UNM was on top 79-77 with 1:11 to play.

Then the Aztecs got a gift. Forward Miles Hiede was fouled and went to the free throw line, where he was just 8-for-21 on the season. He calmly dropped both shots to tie it 79-all, and SDSU’s typically stellar defense came through again. Byrd picked off a Buljan pass and found Davis, who pulled up from 13 feet and used the glass to give San Diego State a lead they wouldn’t give up.

Uriah Tenette missed a jumper to tie, Reese Dixon-Waters grabbed the rebound and was immediately fouled. He made a pair of free throws for the final points of the game and if that wasn’t good enough news for the Aztecs, Grand Canyon upset #23 Utah State, handing the Aggies their first conference loss and leaving San Diego State alone in 1st place as the only unbeaten team left in Mountain West play.

The Aztecs head to Phoenix to play that dangerous GCU club on Wednesday night.