San Diego State advances to the semifinals of the Mountain West Tournament with a 71-62 win against the Rams

Thomas & Mack Center – Las Vegas, Nevada

March Madness is here!

The San Diego State Aztecs and Colorado State Rams met at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas for the second round of the Mountain West Tournament. The Aztecs held on by the skin of their teeth in a wild contest. You won’t see many more results like that one you saw on Thursday night.

“Just San Diego State,” Miles Byrd said postgame about the win in a crazy contest. “Defense and rebounding. Defensively, we gotta be good enough to where we can win those games.”

Head coach Brian Dutcher utilized a different starting lineup in this contest. Sean Newman Jr. remained at point guard for the injured Elzie Harrington. Miles Byrd, Reese Dixon-Waters, and Miles Heide continued to start while freshman Tae Simmons got the nod to start at the four. BJ Davis and Magoon Gwath came off the bench to begin the game.

“Getting a bye helped,” Dutcher said postgame. “Not only for the legs, but we spent four days getting ready for Colorado State, no disrespect to Fresno State. We were pretty locked in defensively. We left this tournament early last year because we got destroyed by Boise State on the glass. When we rebound the ball, we are hard to beat.”

The contest started with Miles Byrd hitting the first bucket of the game. After a CSU triple, Newman Jr. scored on a layup to take a 4-3 lead. CSU then hit their second triple of the game, and then a layup by Kyle Jorgensen to take an 8-4 lead over SDSU.

The Rams stayed hot early in the game by going 3-5 from beyond the arc. They led 13-8 at the first TV timeout. Byrd had an early four points, and Dixon-Waters hit his first shot of the game. Pharaoh Compton, Davis, and Gwath checked in.

Gwath made a statement early. He grabbed a huge defensive board, followed by an offensive board, leading to a basket plus the foul. He would miss the free throw as SDSU still trailed by three. Missed free throws ended up being the story of the game for SDSU.

After a huge forced turnover by Davis, SDSU had a chance to regain the advantage. Davis then took matters into his own hands for a tough finish in the paint. Davis wasn’t done there; he forced another turnover and was fouled in transition. He made both shots from the line to take a 16-13 lead. A huge 20 seconds from Mountain West Honorable Mention to give his team momentum.

SDSU still had a hard time defending the three-ball as the Rams would hit their fourth of the half to cut into their deficit. After Simmons went 1-2 from the line, SDSU led 21-19 with 7:44 remaining.

Byrd stole a pass for an and-one finish in transition. He made the shot to go back up four points. CSU had six turnovers to this point.

Swipe➡️Score for @_mbyrd21

📺:@CBSSportsNet #GoAztecs pic.twitter.com/oExmgzG9b0

— San Diego State Men’s Basketball (@Aztec_MBB) March 13, 2026

The Aztecs finished the half very strongly, going on an 11-0 run into the break. Gwath would hit the only triple of the game to this point for SDSU, and despite CSU having made six, the Aztecs still led by 12 at the half. Pharaoh Compton played a massive 11 minutes, scoring 10 points and grabbing four rebounds. His defense was excellent as well.

“Just trusting my teammates,” Compton said postgame about his great first half. “Just knowing that if I go and play hard, then they will have my back.”

Big man can SHOOT@Aztec_MBB

📺 @CBSSportsNet pic.twitter.com/WO8yA9YcM5

— Mountain West (@MountainWest) March 13, 2026

SDSU needed to defend the three-ball better to put themselves in a dominant position.

Newman Jr. got the scoring started in the second half to put his team up 14. Then, Jevin Muniz hit CSU’s 7th three-pointer of the game.

After Simmons missed two consecutive free throws, that put SDSU 8-14 for the game. This team needed to take advantage of the free points, especially with the Rams’ ability to shoot from beyond the arc. SDSU failed to do so.

Byrd then went coast-to-coast with a layup to give SDSU a 15-point lead with 16 minutes to go. That was Byrd’s 11th point of the evening (5-9) as the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year certainly showed up on the other end of the court.

The Rams would not go away quietly. Muniz hit the Rams’ 9th triple of the game to cut the deficit to 11. They had made eight more deep balls to this point. It would not end. Kyle Jorgensen then hit CSU’s 11th triple to bring the deficit to 10 with under four minutes to go. The Rams were going to lie or die from deep. JoJo McIver, who was playing with four fouls, cut the deficit to eight with 3:28 remaining, hitting two shots from the line.

SDSU needed to close out this game by playing Aztec Basketball on the defensive end, and they did. CSU only had six made baskets in the paint all game long. If they couldn’t make the three, there was not much the Rams could do.

The Aztecs really hurt themselves with all the missed free throws. It was unbelievable how costly it was to see them miss 10+ late in the game. SDSU ended the game 22-42 from the line. This team was able to still win by nine points despite allowing 13 three-pointers and missing 20 free throws.

“We escaped tonight with some bad free-throw shooting,” Dutcher said postgame. “I want to fire the free-throw coach, but it is me. So, I am going to get myself one more day to try and get it right.”

San Diego State will now await the results of San Jose State and New Mexico.

News & Stats

• Dutcher did not confirm postgame about the extent of Elzie Harrington’s injury, but said he remains OUT.
• Byrd finished with 12 points, 8 boards, 1 steal, 1 assist, and 1 block
• Pharaoh Compton and Reese Dixon-Waters both ended with 11 points each
• Tae Simmons ended with 9 points, 6 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, and 7 fouls drawn
• Sean Newman Jr. played very well tonight, scoring 9 points as a starter with 1 steal and 2 boards
• SDSU dominated in the paint with a 42-8 advantage
• Miles Heide had 7 offensive rebounds, and Magoon Gwath had 2 blocks and a steal to go with his 7 points
• The Aztecs shot 48% from the floor and grabbed 43 rebounds (14 offensive)

Chris Spiering

Chris is a graduate of the University of San Diego. He is the former Sports Editor for the USDVista newspaper. Chris has covered the San Diego Loyal, and now covers San Diego State Men’s Basketball. He also contributes regularly about the Padres. Chris is an athlete and is a huge fan of San Diego sports.