LOGAN, Utah – San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher said they were coming to the Cache Valley to “steal a win” at Utah State.

Stuck their hand in the cookie jar.

No cookies.

The suddenly shorthanded Aztecs put up a valiant fight Saturday morning in one of college basketball’s most hostile environments that also happens to be at 4,783 feet of elevation, ultimately losing 71-66 before a full house at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum and a national television audience on CBS.

That put the Aztecs (15-6, 9-2) in a tie with Utah State (18-3, 9-2) atop the Mountain West with nine games remaining, one of which matches these teams at Viejas Arena on Feb. 25. New Mexico could join them at 9-2 with a win at San Jose State on Saturday night.

There are two ways of looking at SDSU’s sixth loss in its last seven trips to Logan.

One is that they were in prime position to “steal” one, leading by 11 in the first half and seven midway through the second before collapsing down the stretch amid foul trouble and fatigue. And after holding MJ Collins, the Mountain West’s leading scorer, without a basket for the game’s first 34 minutes.

The other is that this probably shouldn’t have been this close.

Starters Magoon Gwath and Elzie Harrington both were injury scratches again (Harrington is now in a walking boot), and Pharaoh Compton was wearing a clear mask to protect a nose injury.

Then Reese Dixon-Waters rolled an ankle with 13:22 left and, while he returned, made only one more basket after a hot start.

Then everyone got in foul trouble, most notably leading scorer BJ Davis, who picked up this third and fourth in the space of 29 seconds, went to the bench, returned and promptly fouled out.

It was still a one-possession game inside four minutes to go, and SDSU twice forced the Aggies into missed 3s … only to foul them on the rebound and send them to the line.

That gave the Aggies the separation they needed on a day when one of the nation’s most efficient offenses shot 40.6% overall, went 6 of 26 behind the arc and missed 10 free throws.

Dixon-Waters led the visitors with 19 points but no one else was in double figures. Davis and Miles Byrd had rough days, both shooting 3 of 12 and combining for 1 of 9 from deep.

Utah State got 19 points and seven rebounds from forward Karson Templin, a dead lookalike for Karate Kid’s Johnny Lawrence, with the blond hair and white headband.  Collins got it going late and finished with 12 points, seven below his average, on 3 of 14 shooting.

For a few minutes there, it looked like the two teams might set back basketball 50 or 100 years.

Through the first minutes, the score was 2-2 as the teams combined to shoot 2 of 12 with seven turnovers. The Aztecs didn’t make their second basket until 12:46 left in the half. The Aggies didn’t crack double figures until 10:14 to go.

Part of it was tough defense. Part of it was an officiating crew that decided to let ’em play and swallowed their whistles. Part of it was bad offense.

But the Aztecs finally got going and built a tidy 11-point lead behind a pair of 3-pointers from a guy, senior Jeremiah Oden, who hadn’t made one in his previous seven games (missing nine straight).

It was still 34-25 with 2:04 left in the half when Taj DeGourville made a running bank shot from the right side. But he celebrated a bit too robustly, and official Tommy Nunez hit him with a technical foul for taunting.

The beginning of the end, it turned out.

Collins made both technical free throws, then Templin scored inside, then Adlan Elamin scored a couple baskets – 34-34 at the break.

Notable

Next up: home Tuesday night against Wyoming (8 p.m., CBS Sports Network) … This was the second of three games on big-boy CBS. The third is Feb. 28 at New Mexico in an 11 a.m. PST tip … Pharaoh Compton also got a T in the first half following an officials’ review, but no free throws were shot because it was a double technical with Utah State’s Garry Clark for a skirmish under the basket.