San Diego State led at the break but scored just 19 second-half points to stumble across finish line.

Thomas & Mack Center – University of Nevada, Las Vegas

March Madness has begun! The San Diego State Aztecs and Boise State Broncos met for the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Tournament in Las Vegas.

Boise State played better in the second half and had a 34-19 advantage. SDSU did not make a field goal in the final nine minutes of the game. Magoon Gwath did not play.

The three-point shooting proved to be Boise State’s game plan early on. After SDSU scored the first five points, Boise jumped out with a 9-0 run to take a 9-5 lead. Wayne McKinney III came into the game and ended the run with a layup.

Freshman Taj DeGourville stepped up early with two buckets. After he scored his 4th point, the Aztecs forced a steal, and Nick Boyd threw the ball off the backboard to Pharaoh Compton for the alley-oop jam.

@NicholaswBoyd to @PharaohCompton

: @CBSSportsCBB #MWAlwaysDelivers pic.twitter.com/E8wISOkH70

— San Diego State Men’s Basketball (@Aztec_MBB) March 13, 2025

A monstrous dunk for the freshman.

The first half was very competitive. The Broncos had a clear game plan and tried to take as many three-point attempts as they could. Five of Boise State’s first seven makes came from beyond the arc. They attempted 20 shots from deep and only five from inside the arc at this point.

Miles Byrd led the Aztecs on a 9-0 run that was ended from another Carmichael triple. SDSU led 28-22 with 3:35 minutes to go. Dutcher used his “use it or lose it” timeout to give his team a short break and talk strategy.

BJ Davis gave his team their first double-digit lead until Degenhart cut it back to eight with another three-pointer. Then, Cardenas ended the half with yet another made three-pointer. Boise had made 7-23 from deep in the first half and ended 2-6 from inside the arc.

SDSU led 33-28 at the break.

The Broncos scored seven quick points to take their first lead of the half at 35-33. SDSU did not play well to open the second half, as it only took two and a half minutes for Boise State to regain the lead.

Boyd, after the Dutcher timeout, nailed a triple off the inbound pass to give his team the lead again, 36-35. That was a huge bucket to get the Aztecs going. Boyd followed it up with another deep triple but then picked up his third personal foul.

A potential game-changing play happened at the 15:00 mark as Wayne McKinney III was called for a blocking foul plus the basket. That call was egregious, as it was a very good charge attempt from WM3. That should have been called a charge. Instead, Boise State took a two-point lead. The momentum followed the Broncos the entire rest of the way.

JCJ and Boyd converted on back-to-back possessions, and SDSU was back on top. That was their final lead of the contest.

We had ourselves a back-and-forth battle. Both teams wanted this win badly. The defensive aggression picked up. Every defender played tight on ball and made it difficult for anyone to get open looks.

Just seven minutes remained. The game was tied at 47. The Broncos had scored as many points as they did in their last meeting at San Diego State.

Then, Boise State pulled away. SDSU went on a three-minute scoring drought that was ended by Byrd at the line. The Aztecs needed to find their offense late. The physical defense from Boise gave SDSU fits.

Degenhart gave Boise the lead with a triple, 52-49. Then, Cardenas nailed a three-pointer to put them up five. The Broncos’ plan to heave from deep was paying off as crunch time approached.

The Aztecs just could not score. The body language did not look good at all. Many frustrations occurred to end the contest, and the Aztecs ran out of time. The senior leadership for the Broncos allowed for them to get over the top.

This is a frustrating result. SDSU is much better than how they played today, and it could cost them an opportunity to play in the NCAA Tournament. They certainly have the resume, but will the selection committee let them in?

We will find out on Sunday.

News & Stats

• Nick Boyd led SDSU with 20 points and, grabbed 1 board, and had 3 assists
• The next highest scorer was Jared Coleman-Jones with seven points, and he grabbed 9 boards
• SDSU shot just 25% from the floor in the second half. Boise ended the game shooting 33.9%, and won.
• Boise led second chance points 18-3 & points off turnovers 19-8

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.