LAS VEGAS — The adventure continues.
San Diego State’s basketball team is one win from the NCAA Tournament because it keeps missing from long range, keeps missing free throws, keeps surrendering offensive rebounds … and keeps winning nonetheless, defying laws of statistics (and probably a few laws of physics as well).
The latest victim was New Mexico, 64-62 in the semifinals of the Mountain West tournament on Friday night — late Friday night — at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center. The game didn’t tip until 9:29 p.m., nearly a half-hour later than scheduled, and didn’t finish until 11:45 p.m., when BJ Davis’ driving layup nestled in the net.
The game was considered a bubble elimination contest, meaning the loser had their already fading hopes of an at-large NCAA Tournament berth slip into oblivion with no more chances to play. The winner gets no guarantees for Selection Sunday, merely a spot in the Mountain West final and a shot to clinch the conference’s automatic berth with a victory.
That will come Saturday at 3 p.m. against top-seeded Utah State, which had little trouble dispatching Nevada 79-66 in the first semifinal and was back at its hotel getting ready to sleep when the second semi lurched to its dramatic conclusion.
The turnaround for the No. 2-seeded Aztecs is beyond brutal. They probably won’t get to sleep much before 2 a.m., then return to Thomas & Mack by early afternoon for their third game in 45 hours.
But the point is, they are returning. They still have a chance.
BJ Davis #10 of San Diego State has a shot blocked by Uriah Tenette #4 of New Mexico in the semifinals of the Mountain West Conference basketball tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center on March 13, 2026 in Las Vegas, NV. (K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
They do because Davis did what he always does in the closing seconds of a half, holding the ball at the top as the clock ticks down and then attacking the rim. He did at the end of the first half for a layup, and he did it at the end of the game, breaking a 62-62 tie by slicing through the lane from the right side.
That left New Mexico with 2.1 seconds to go the length of the floor. A pass to midcourt was too high for Tomislav Buljan and tipped off his hand to Magoon Gwath, who tried to catch it but stepped on the sideline. That gave the Lobos the ball with six-tenths of a second left, and Jake Hall’s desperation attempt was well short.
It was Gwath’s only misstep of the night. The 7-foot forward emerged from a season-long slumber at the most opportune time, finishing with 17 points, six rebounds and two blocks in 28 minutes off the bench after losing his starting spot to freshman Tae Simmons.
It was a tight game, just as the two regular-season meetings were, and neither team led by more than six. A Gwath corner 3 put the Aztecs up by four inside four minutes to go, but the Lobos (23-7) clawed back and tied it on Deyton Albury’s layup with 25 seconds left.
Sean Newman Jr. #4 of San Diego State steals the ball from Tomislav Buljan #10 of New Mexico in the semifinals of the Mountain West Conference basketball tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center on March 13, 2026 in Las Vegas, NV. (K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The night’s other hero was Reese Dixon-Waters, who had only five points but was the primary defensive assignment on Hall, the Mountain West Freshman of the Year. The Carlsbad High School alum, who entered the night averaging 16.4 points, had just three (on an early 3-pointer) and finished shooting 1 of 10 (1 of 7 on 3s).
SDSU’s free-throw defense was also stellar. The Lobos were 15 of 28 from the line. They were shooting 73.1% on the season, meaning had they hit their average, they would have had five more points.
The game was physical, which is not uncommon from the familiarity of teams meeting for the third time this season (and second time in less than two weeks).
The officials tried to let them play, swallowing their whistles on several early collisions at the rim, but ultimately began blowing them.
Soon, a combined five players each had two fouls. The three Aztecs went to the bench, the two Lobos stayed in.
It represented a sharp difference in coaching philosophy. SDSU’s Brian Dutcher is old school, using players with two fouls in the first half only 6.5% of the time (which ranks 347th in the nation). New Mexico’s Eric Olen, an analytics-based coach who prefers to play an eight-man rotation, lets anybody with two fouls stay in the first half 53.3 percent of the time (14th in the nation).
At one point, SDSU forward Miles Heide was at the scorer’s table with two fouls, ready to check in with five minutes left in the half. Dutcher called him back.
The Lobos’ Hall and Albury kept playing, though, and the strategy backfired. Hall got his third with 2:57 left, followed 20 seconds later by Albury’s third.
A 10-0 Aztecs run erased an early deficit and gave them a modest lead, only for the Lobos to respond with a 9-0 run. The Aztecs surged again and probably should have led by more than four given the Lobos’ deficiencies at the line (6 of 11 with two missed front ends of one-and-ones).
Notable
Dutcher started the same five as the night before: Sean Newman Jr., Miles Byrd, Dixon-Waters, Simmons and Heide … The officiating crew: Nate Harris, Jason Phillips and Kevin Brill (who worked SDSU’s quarterfinal win against Colorado State) … The lower bowl at 18,000-seat Thomas & Mack was filled, with some overflow into the upper deck …