Sept. 19, 2008
SAN DIEGO -
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| No. 8: San Diego State 70, Wyoming 69 |
March 8, 2002 | Recap | Stats | Notes
Having already defied the odds the previous day by knocking off fourth-seeded Brigham Young in the quarterfinals at the 2002 Mountain West Conference tournament, fifth-seeded San Diego State went up against the ultimate test in top-seeded Wyoming in the semifinal round. Everyone knew the game would be close with both teams winning on each other's home floor earlier in the year and the average margin of victory being 3.5 points. The road to the finals would not be easy, but the Aztecs were destined for their first tournament title game appearance since the 1985 season.
Why it was memorable: San Diego State went into its game with the MWC regular-season champion Cowboys with a ton of confidence. Not only did the Aztecs beat BYU by double-digits in the quarterfinals, they knew they could hang with the tournament's No. 1 seed in the semifinals and if successful, could secure the school's first 20-win season since the 1984-85 campaign.
Early on, SDSU found itself in the driver's seat and opened up a pair of 11-point leads with the last coming with 9:53 left in the first half following an Al Faux jumper. Wyoming went on to close the half by outscoring the Aztecs by six and went into the locker room trailing the Scarlet and Black, 37-32, setting up an intriguing second half.
San Diego State maintained its lead up until the Cowboys' David Rottinghaus drained two free throws to give the top-seeded squad a 59-58 lead with 7:37 remaining in the game. Rottinghaus' two free throws were part of a 9-1 Wyoming run that put its lead at 64-59, its largest of the game, with just over four minutes to go.
Five straight Faux points, including a three-point play, brought SDSU even with the Cowboys, but Wyoming's Marcus Bailey silenced the Aztec crowd in attendance with a three-pointer. Not to be denied their first tournament championship game appearance in almost 20 years, San Diego State responded with a tip-in by Aerick Sanders and a layup by Randy Holcomb to give the Aztecs a one-point advantage with 1:35 left in the contest.
After trading possessions, Myron Epps fouled Bailey to send him to the line where he nailed both of his free-throw attempts catapulting Wyoming to a 69-68 lead with 42 seconds remaining. On the ensuing possession, Faux brought the ball down the court, kicked it to the right corner to Holcomb, got it back at the top of the key and knocked down a 16-footer to give San Diego State a 70-69 victory.
Wyoming had its shot to win the game, but Bailey's jump shot with four seconds left came up short. Sanders, who grabbed the rebound with 1.3 seconds left, was fouled, putting him at the line. The sophomore missed both free throws, but the Cowboys could not get another shot off before time expired to lock down the Aztec win.
Faux ended with a team-high 20 points, while Holcomb added 19 points and Sanders 10.