LARAMIE, Wyo. – Matt Bradley matched his career-best with five 3-pointers and totaled 30 points, a career-best, to lead the San Diego State men's basketball team to a 73-66 victory at the Arena-Auditorium on Monday night.
With the victory, the Aztecs are in a three-way tie in the loss column for second place in Mountain West Conference play, but now hold the tiebreaker over the Cowboys and split its series with Colorado State, the two teams with which it is tied. In addition, SDSU is the only team to defeat the Cowboys on their home court in its last 14 games this year (13-1), and snaps Wyoming's 14 home game win streak which was tied for 13th best nationally. The Cowboys had not lost a home game since March 6, 2021.
The Aztecs (19-7, 11-4 Mountain West) have won at least 19 games for the 17th straight season. SDSU is tied for the third longest active Division I streak for consecutive seasons with at least 19 victories, trailing only Kansas (35 seasons) and Gonzaga (25 seasons) and tied with Belmont and Brigham Young with 17. All five schools on the list have reached at least 19 wins this season.
Bradley was 10-of-20 from the field, matching his single game best for field goals, including 5-of-9 from distance, hit 5-of-7 free throws, grabbed five rebounds and led the team with four assists. It was the fifth time in the last nine games that Bradley had made at least four three-pointers. Also reaching double figures, for the second game in a row, was Trey Pulliam, who was 6-of-11 from the floor and knocked down 2-of-5 from the bonus distance, had five boards and three assists. In the last two games, Pulliam is 10-of-18 from the field, 55.6 percent, which includes 3-of-6 from long range and has made all four of his free throw attempts.
Both teams came out firing, shooting a combined 28-of-56 (50.0 percent) in the first 20 minutes. Eighteen of the 28 field goals came from beyond the arc with the Aztecs hitting 10 of the 18. SDSU equaled the team's season-high for threes in a game, nine, in first 16:16 and finished the period with 10. Ultimately, San Diego State had 12 threes for the game.
Bradley started off red hot connecting on his first five shots, including his first four from distance, and was in double figures with 7:08 to play in the half. Adam Seiko was equally hot to open the game, going 3-of-3 from beyond the arc and finishing with nine points. It is the eighth time this season and 23rd time in his college career the Boston native has made multiple threes in a game and San Diego State is 19-4 in those contests.
Pulliam added two triples, the first game since Nov. 30, 2021 against UT Arlington that he has made multiple threes in a game and Keshad Johnson knocked down both his attempts from long range. The Oakland, Calif. native, was 0-of-19 from distance to open the season but has at least one trey in three of the last four games and is 4-of-7 from beyond the arc in that time frame. For the half, SDSU was 10-of-14 (71.4 percent) from distance.
At the break, San Diego State was shooting 53.6 percent from the field (15-of-28) and held a 16-to-12 advantage on the boards. Wyoming (23-6, 12-4 Mountain West) was nearly as accurate from the floor, connecting 13-of-28 shots (46.7 percent) and 8-of-17 three-pointers (47.1 percent). Despite the Cowboys hot shooting and a raucous crowd to cheer them on, SDSU led by as many as 10 points before taking a 44-37 lead into the intermission. San Diego State is now 18-1 this season when leading at the half and 32-1 in its last 33 when it has led at the break.
In the second half, the team's shooting cooled off, but the Aztecs never relinquished the lead. San Diego State took its largest advantage of the game, 11 points at 50-39, with 17:45 to play and still held a nine-point lead, 58-49, with 9:14 remaining. But back-to-back Wyoming buckets, including a 3-pointer, trimmed the lead to four points, 58-54, at the 8:07 mark.
Every time Wyoming made inroads into the Aztecs' advantage, SDSU responded to keep the Cowboys at bay. A pair of Bradley free throws with 5:56 left on the clock put San Diego State up 62-57 and after a Bradley bucket with 4:49 made it a seven-point game, the Aztecs' 33 game win streak with a lead with five minutes to play was on the line.
Wyoming trimmed its deficit to a single point with 2:14 to go, 65-64, but Nathan Mensah answered with a pair of free throws. The Cowboys again got the lead down to one with 1:20 to go, but Pulliam took over. He hit a floater in the paint and after an empty possession by the Cowboys, drove and scored on a layup to put SDSU up 71-66 with 15 seconds to go.
Mensah finished with a team-high nine boards, six points and had two blocks. It is the 17th time this year Mensah has blocked multiple shots in a game. The senior out of Accra, Ghana did not make a shot from the floor but was 6-of-6 from the line and hit four critical foul shots in the final two minutes to help ice the victory.
The Aztec defense held the Cowboys to 39.7 shooting for the game. They are the fourth straight opponent, and 18th this season, SDSU has held to less than 40.0 percent shooting. San Diego State also owned the boards, with a 40-to-33 advantage and has won five straight and 34 of its last 35 when outrebounding its opponent.
The Aztecs next game will be its final regular season appearance in Viejas Arena. San Diego State hosts the Fresno State Bulldogs on Thursday night at 8 p.m. PT with the game being broadcast on CBS Sports Network.
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Bradley Leads Aztecs To 73-66 Win At Wyoming
