Wyoming Cowboys vs San Diego St. Aztecs Box Score on Mar 11, 2021

Terrell Gomez gave San Diego State the lead for good on two free throws with 1:30 remaining and the No. 19 Aztecs survived a missed free throw, layup and three 3-point attempts by Wyoming in the final 61 seconds to hold off the eighth-seeded Cowboys 69-66 in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Conference tournament in Las Vegas on Thursday afternoon.

Winners of 12 straight, the top-seeded Aztecs (21-4) move on to Friday's semifinals, where they will face fifth-seeded Nevada, which notched an 89-82 victory over fourth-seeded Boise State.

In an exceptionally tight game that featured 19 ties and 14 lead changes, Gomez's free throws came after Wyoming's Hunter Maldonado had given his team its last lead at 64-63 with 1:52 to play.

Wyoming (14-11) had a chance to tie when Kenny Foster missed a free throw with 57 seconds to go (four seconds after a Xavier DuSell missed 3-point try), then failed to wrestle the lead back when Marcus Williams couldn't connect on a layup five seconds later.

After Gomez misfired on a 3-pointer with still 24 seconds to play, Wyoming had one final shot at retaking the lead. But Williams missed a 3-pointer with eight seconds remaining.

The Cowboys were forced to foul Matt Mitchell, and his two free throws padded the San Diego State lead to three.

After a timeout, the Aztecs fouled Williams to prevent a potential game-tying 3-point attempt. He made his first free throw to get Wyoming within 67-65, then banked in his second try when attempting to miss.

Still down one, the Cowboys were forced to foul Mitchell again, and his two free throws with 3.4 seconds left provided the margin of victory.

A desperation 3-pointer by Williams was off the mark at the final horn.

Gomez finished with a team-high 20 points for San Diego State, which had swept Wyoming in the regular season by a total of 57 points in two home games.

Mitchell, the Mountain West Player of the Year, was held to eight points, but Trey Pulliam and Jordan Schakel helped pick up the slack with 15 apiece.

DuSell bombed in six 3-pointers to account for a majority of his game-high 21 points for Wyoming, which had earned a shot at San Diego State by beating San Jose State 111-80 in the first round on Wednesday.

Williams and Maldonado added 12 points apiece, while Graham Ike chipped in with 10 points and nine rebounds for the Cowboys, who had won four of their previous five.

The teams played see-saw over the final 9:49 after Foster's 3-pointer put Wyoming on top 52-49.

The advantage exchanged hands nine more times before Gomez's free throws with 1:30 remaining gave the Aztecs the upper hand for good.

Neither team ever led the game by more than four points.

--Field Level Media