Jan. 21, 2002
By BERNIE WILSON
AP Sports Writer
SAN DIEGO - The Wyoming Cowboys were awful the first 11 minutes, then thrilling the rest of the way.
Paris Corner scored a career-high 19 points, including four in the last 53 seconds of overtime, and the Cowboys beat San Diego State 88-85 on Monday night despite trailing by 14 in the first half.
Uche Nsonwu-Amadi, Wyoming's 6-foot-10 center, had a career-high 17 rebounds.
"This was a big win for us on the road, especially considering the way we played the first half," coach Steve McClain said. "Our guys took over in the second half and overtime."
Wyoming (12-4, 3-0 MWC) appeared to have the game in hand late in the second half, but missed 4 of 8 free throws in the last 36 seconds.
Al Faux, who had a game-high 26 points for San Diego State (11-7, 1-3), hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions, the second one with 2.3 seconds left to send it into overtime tied at 73.
Wyoming jumped to an 80-74 lead, getting its first five points in overtime from Marcus Bailey and then a jumper from Josh Davis.
"After as poorly as we played in the first half, the guards wanted to come out and penetrate and make things happen," Jason Straight said.
Corner hit a turnaround jumper with 53 seconds left and added two free throws with 26.2 seconds for an 85-79 lead.
Faux hit a 3-pointer with 19 seconds left and Deandre Moore had a steal and layup with 15.8 seconds to pull to 85-84.
But Donta Richardson hit two free throws and Bailey another with 8.9 seconds left.
The Cowboys fouled Faux with 10.6 seconds left before he could shoot another 3, and he made just one of two free throws. Faux then missed a 3-pointer with two seconds left.
Richardson scored 16 points, Jason Straight and Bailey had 13 apiece and Davis 12.
Randy Holcomb scored 17 for the Aztecs, Tony Bland 16 and Mike Mackell 13.
Wyoming won its third straight overall and for the sixth straight time against San Diego State.
San Diego State set a frantic early pace, taking a double-digit lead less than 7 minutes in, 17-5, behind Mackell's eight points. The Aztecs' biggest lead was 27-13 following a 3-pointer by Holcomb with 8:50 left before halftime.
Wyoming closed to 37-33 at halftime with a 10-4 run.
"We must be able to play a second half the way we played the first half defensively," SDSU coach Steve Fisher said. "They got too many shots off the dribble."