San Diego – San Diego State (11-3) traveled to Laramie, Wyoming to face off against the underachieving Wyoming Cowboys (5-9). The Cowboys came into the season after gaining several high major transfers. The Aztecs knew that this game wasn’t going to be easy as Wyoming almost knocked off, then, undefeated New Mexico Lobos. That game came down to their last shot and Wyoming ended up losing by 1 point. Wyoming would be without several key players including Mountain West Pre-season Player of The Year Graham Ike and this year’s leading scorer Noah Reynolds who suffered a concussion last game.
In the first half, the Aztecs came out scorching hot from downtown as they shot 57% going 8-14. Lamont Butler started off the game going 3-3 from behind the arc. Everyone who entered the game for San Diego State contributed as everyone made a basket in the first half. Juniors Jeremiah Oden and Brendan Wenzel were the two double-digit scorers from the Cowboys with 11 each. Both teams were on fire in the first half as both teams gave up the most points in a half all season.
In the second half, San Diego State got off to a slow start which allowed the undermanned Cowboys to stay in the game. Early in the second half, Wyoming would lose yet another of their top players Brendan Wenzel to a knee injury. He was perfect from the field including going 4-4 from three and 15 total points.
With Wenzel’s exit, it was Junior Xaiver DuSell who helped pick up the slack with 11 second-half points hitting 4 three-pointers. He had only been averaging 3.7 points per game, but given that the Cowboys were down to 6 players he was given the opportunity to step up and he did. However, late in the game, the Cowboys played through Hunter Maldonado and he delivered with 20 points and he was a big reason why they were able to stay in the game.
The Cowboys weren’t the only team to lose one of their top players as Nathan Mensah also had an early exit in the game. With Mensah’s unavailable, it meant that the TCU transfer Jaedon LeDee had to step up which he did. He had a tremendous impact on the game with 9 rebounds and 4 of those were offensive rebounds. This allowed the Aztecs to extend their possessions and get second-chance points.
Lamont Butler had a career-high 23 points with 5 three-pointers. He took over in the second half along with his teammate Matt Bradley, who stayed hot with 18 points. When the Aztecs needed a bucket late in the game they went to Bradley who did not disappoint them. He had a clutch three with 3:15 left in the game to put the Aztecs up 4. Late in the game, the Aztecs turned up the defense when it mattered most with Wyoming going scoreless for 2:40 of the last 5 minutes.
The Aztecs will head back home and face Nevada (14-3) in a conference game on Tuesday evening.
