LAS VEGAS — The team that looked an awful lot like it was ready for the season to be over in recent weeks suddenly doesn’t want it to end.

San Diego State’s players talked the talk about a renewed focus and urgency, and then Thursday night they walked the walk, corralling the Colorado State Rams 71-62 in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West tournament at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Arena.

That improved the Aztecs to 18-1 in their last 19 Mountain West quarterfinals and put them into Friday’s 9 p.m. semi against the winner of the late game between New Mexico and San Jose State.

“We needed this win, desperately,” SDSU coach Brian Dutcher said. “This was a quality opponent on a neutral floor, and we played well.”

The formula was nothing new, just new over the last few games: defense and rebounding.

The Aztecs (21-10) held Colorado State to 33.3% shooting and 21 fewer points than they did 2½ weeks ago in an 83-74 loss at Moby Arena. And they had a 43-31 edge on the boards nine days after Boise State crushed them 37-15.

If you do that, you can shoot 1 of 11 behind the 3-point arc and miss 20 free throws … and still win with relative ease.

“I need to fire the free-throw coach,” Dutcher said. “I think that’s me. … If we make free throws, we’re looking pretty good.”

The closing minutes got interesting after the Rams trimmed a 16-point lead to seven, in part, by employing a Hack-a-Shaq tactic used by New Mexico and UNLV earlier this season.

The idea: Intentionally foul Miles Heide, a career 42.6% shooter from the line.

It didn’t work when the Lobos and Rebels tried it during the regular season, but it got some traction Thursday with 3:27 left. Heide missed the front end of a one-and-one, and soon CSU guard Brandon Rechsteiner was draining a 3 to cut it to seven.

SDSU subbed out Heide and put in Tae Simmons, who was 1 of 4 from the line. The Rams promptly fouled him.

Miss, miss.

It wasn’t just Simmons. Gwath went to the line a minute later.

Miss, miss.

Then Taj DeGourville.

Miss, miss.

Then Sean Newman Jr., who was 27 of 30 on the season.

Make, miss.

In all, the Aztecs were 22 of 42 from the line.

But the Rams (21-12) never got any closer because, well, it’s hard to reduce a deficit when you can’t score yourself. They finished with only six 2-point baskets over 40 minutes and were outscored 42-8 in the paint.

“When we rebound like that, we’re tough to beat,” Dutcher said. “When we lost to Colorado State, they outphysicaled us for all 40 minutes.”

It wasn’t a particularly impressive offensive performance from SDSU, but it was enough. Miles Byrd led with 12 points, followed by Reese Dixon-Waters and Pharaoh Compton with 11 each. Five other players finished with between six and nine points.

Dutcher is typically a guy who picks a starting lineup and stays with it.

Surprise. He changed it.

Freshman Elzie Harrington, a regular starter when healthy, wasn’t healthy and sat on the bench in a walking boot, a strong indication that he might be done for the season, however long it lasts. But instead of inserting BJ Davis, as he did in the past, he started Newman for only the third time all season.

The real surprise, though, came at power forward, where it wasn’t Magoon Gwath or senior Jeremiah Oden. It was freshman Tae Simmons, whose minutes have steadily increased in recent weeks. Gwath came off the bench. Oden was not part of a rotation shortened to nine.

The new lineup didn’t immediately reap dividends, as the Rams opened the game 5 of 7 shooting and took a 13-8 lead.

But not starting Gwath and Davis meant more firepower off the bench, and it eventually wore down a Rams team that had played a physically and emotionally draining nail-biter the night before against Fresno State.

A 10-0 run claimed the lead, and a 9-0 spurt to end the half — the exclamation point coming on Gwath 3 — pushed the margin to 39-26 at the break.

Bench points: 24-6, Aztecs. Midway through the second half, it was 19-0.

“Defense is everything for us,” Compton said. “Not letting them score, that’s our identity.”

Notable

The officiating crew: Michael Irving, Kevin Brill and Amy Bonner.

• Thomas & Mack, which holds 18,000, was only about a third full (if that). The new courtside seats that were created when most media was moved to an obstructed view section behind the basket were largely empty.

• CSU was 11 of 13 from the line, meaning it shot 29 fewer free throws but made only 11 fewer.

•  Rechsteiner led the Rams with 16 points. Jace Butler added 14.