Sept. 12, 2008
SAN DIEGO -
|
| No. 9: San Diego State 78, Wyoming 77 |
January 28, 2006 | Recap | Stats | Notes
In what was turning out to be a magical 2005-06 season, San Diego State received a game-tying and game-winning effort from an unlikely source. On a team that featured all-conference performers Mohamed Abukar, Brandon Heath and Marcus Slaughter, the hero on that Laramie afternoon was senior leader Trimaine Davis. Even after big games from the big three, the Aztecs needed Davis' performance to walk out of Arena-Auditorium with a 78-77 overtime victory over Wyoming.
Why it was memorable: Winners of five straight Mountain West Conference games and with only one blemish in the loss column, San Diego State looked to finish off the first half of league play with a 7-1 record. But like most SDSU-Wyoming games, this contest was close and intense throughout, setting the stage for another memorable finish.
Both teams matched each other for most of the game with San Diego State creating a six-point lead, 62-56, on a layup by Slaughter with 6:02 left in regulation. The Cowboys, however, would not roll over for the conference-leading Aztecs as they went on a 12-6 run, capped by a Steve Leven jumper with 32 seconds remaining on the clock to force overtime.
In the extra session, Wyoming continued its offensive assault by outscoring San Diego State 6-2 to open up a four-point lead with 2:52 to go. The Cowboy lead was still four with just over two minutes to play until Slaughter connected on three straight free throws to trim the SDSU deficit to just one with 26 seconds to go.
On the ensuing play, Richie Williams fouled Wyoming's Brandon Ewing, sending the Cowboy star to the charity stripe where he was nearly automatic for the season. After missing the first, he missed the second only to get his own rebound and be fouled by Heath. With another chance to put Wyoming ahead by as many as three, Ewing misfired on his two additional attempts with Wyoming grabbing the rebound and calling timeout again.
On the inbounds play, John Sharper fouled Cowboy guard Brad Jones where he then made the first and missed the second putting the home team up, 77-75 with eight seconds left, forcing the Aztecs to go the length of the court to at least tie the game.
With the ball in Heath's hands, the junior pulled up for a three-pointer at the top of the arc and was short. Fortunately for SDSU, Davis found himself under the hoop, grabbed the rebound, went back up with it, made the basket and was fouled with 0.3 seconds left in overtime.
Davis, who finished his Aztec career shooting 53.4 percent from the free-throw line, calmly walked to the stripe and nailed it, giving San Diego State the one-point win.
Slaughter led the way for the Aztecs with 24 points and 13 rebounds with Abukar chipping in 19 points and four rebounds. Heath added 14 points and Davis ended his afternoon with seven points on three-of-three shooting and one-for-one from the line and four rebounds.