Wyoming upsets No. 5 San Diego State 68-62
By Joel Burdeos
Feb 11, 2014; Laramie, WY, USA; Wyoming Cowboys forward Derek Cooke Jr (11) dunks the ball in front of San Diego State Aztecs forward JJ O
San Diego,CA- The Wyoming Cowboys snapped the No. 5 San Diego State Aztecs 20 game win streak Tuesday night, as the defeated the Aztecs 68-62. The Aztecs fall to (21-2) on the season and (10-1) in Mountain West Conference Play. The Cowboys improve to (15-9, 6-5) on the season.
The Aztecs came into the game looking to extend their winning streak to 21 games and break the 20 game win streak school record set by the 2010 (34-3) Sweet 16 San Diego State Aztecs team, but for now that record will remain for another team to break. The Aztecs also fall one win short of tying the best MW start in league history (11-0) by Utah in 2003-04 and breaking the school record for longest road game winning streak (10).
The Aztecs started the game strong going on a 9-4 run to start the game. The Aztecs lead for most of the first half until the Cowboys took the lead 20-17, with 7:39 to go and then closed out the last 4:20 of the first half with a 10-3 run to lead the Aztecs 32-23 at the half.
The Aztecs struggled with the Cowboys zone defense mightily in the first half. Especially Xavier Thames, the Aztecs leading scorer who scored only 3 points, all of which came from the free-throw line. The Aztecs also turned the ball over 10 times in the first half.
Things didn’t get better for the Aztecs to start the second half as the Cowboys went on a 6-2 run to start the half and increase their lead to 14. The Cowboys would increase their lead to as much as 16 as the Cowboys lead the Aztecs 52-36, with 7:12 to go in the game.
The Aztecs wouldn’t go away easily as Polee cut the Cowboys lead to single digits 58-50, with 3:30 left in the game. The Aztecs would cut the lead to four points with 1:04 left and again with 40 seconds to go, but the Aztecs were unable to stop the Cowboys on defense and were unable to score again as the Cowboys pulled away with free throws on their way to a 68-62 upset win over the No. 5 ranked Aztecs.