Aztecs roll past Cowboys

By Wyoming Sports.org

Wyoming-SDSU box score

SAN DIEGO -- San Diego State stayed within striking distance of Utah for the Mountain West Conference lead, as the Aztecs pulled away from Wyoming in the second half, 71-60.

The Aztecs , 8-3 in the Mountain West, 18-6 overall, remain one game behind the Utes for first place, while the Cowboys suffered their fourth straight loss and fell to 3-7, 14-10.

The Cowboys showed some improvement on the road after three straight lop-sided defeats, but still couldn’t contain Billy White and the Aztecs, who won their 10th straight home game.

“I thought it was the best that we played on the road outside of the TCU game,” Wyoming coach Heath Schroyer said of his postgame radio show on the Cowboy Sports Network. “To come in here against either the first- or second-best team, I’m proud of our guys. We just had a five- or six-minute span in the second half where we didn’t execute offensively that led to a couple of fast-break baskets. We had some bad closeouts and didn’t execute defensively. That was the difference.”

San Diego State coach Steve Fisher said it was a good win and an important win.

"We were significantly better at the defensive end than we were a month ago when we played them in Laramie and that was the difference," Fisher said. "Even though their shooting percentage was still good, we guarded them; we made them take harder shots, they had fewer layups and we defended them. That created some offense for us. It was an important win to hold serve and say that we are still a contender for this conference championship and we did what we had to do."

White was a perfect 12-of-12 from the field, a school record, and scored a career-high 24 points. He also had four blocked shots and two steals, while grabbing eight rebounds, including five offensive boards.

"I was just going with the flow," White said. "It feels good to have a good night like this and get a good victory."

Fisher said that White was the best he's ever been for the Aztecs.

"I was really pleased for Billy," Fisher said. "He's had some games where he succumbed to the stress and not played as well and got frustrated. Hopefully, he'll be able to take this as a springboard to where he plays. When he just lets loose and plays to play, he's an outstanding talent who can take advantage of his God-given skills. He did that tonight. I was really happy for the way he played."

Wyoming led by five early and only trailed by eight at halftime. The Aztecs, however, used a 24-12 run to open the second half and led by as much as 20 before the Cowboys closed the gap in the final minutes.

“I thought for 34 minutes that we executed pretty well what we wanted to do,” Schroyer said. “But when you play a really good team on the road, we just don’t have right now yet that much margin of error.”

Despite shooting 52 percent from the field (22-of-42), the Cowboys turned the ball over 17 times, which led to 19 points off of turnovers. San Diego State had 13 steals in the game.

“We just turned the ball over too much and that’s what they do,” Schroyer said. “Their second-chance points is where they get you, especially in this building, and it cost us.”

Brandon Ewing led the Cowboys with 22 points, followed by Afam Muojeke with 13 points and six rebounds and Sean Ogirri with nine points.

Lorenzo Wade also scored 17 points and Tim Shelton added 11 as San Diego State shot 48 percent from the field (28-of-58).

"They were quicker to the ball; they're very athletic," Schroyer said. "They went and got it and that's what they do. They're not an NCAA tournament team for nothing. I think Coach Fisher has done a fabulous job with them and they're obviously a very talented team. The thing I really respect about them is that they're really selfless; they play together. I think this team is playing with a great purpose and they look like a group that's possessed to be the best they can be."

Despite the loss, Schroyer said the Cowboys showed some improvement, as they will now close the season with four out of their last six games at home.

“I thought we really fought and we are a lot better than we were a week ago,” Schroyer said. “Our guys are getting better, we just played a really, really good team that is experienced, deep and talented. My hat’s off to them. That is what a NCAA team looks like.”

The Cowboys return home for a pair of games next week, hosting UNLV Wednesday at 8 p.m. and TCU Saturday at 1:30 p.m.