San Diego State prevails, wins 64-62 over New Mexico
· Yahoo Sports
If you were looking for a First Four game that technically wasn’t a First Four game, look no further than Friday’s Mountain West semifinal between New Mexico and San Diego State.
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If you’ve followed our weekly bracketology columns, the two longtime rivals were on the bubble essentially the entire season, with Friday’s winner gaining a big advantage for an at-large bid ahead of Saturday’s Tournament title game, with the loser going home — figuratively and literally.
And it didn’t disappoint.
The two traded blows like a 12-round heavyweight, though San Diego State prevailed, securing a 64-62 win inside Thomas & Mack Center.
Neither side gave an inch, especially in the halfcourt; they combined to shoot 36.8 percent from the floor and 28.6 percent from 3-point range with 24 turnovers.
It was a classic Mountain West rock fight.
New Mexico’s Deyton Albury, who was said on the broadcast to be nicknamed “Lobo Cop” due to the protective sunglasses he was prescribed after being poked in the eye, unabashedly took on five Aztec defenders in semi-transition, tying the game with roughly 25 seconds left.
However, Aztec guard BJ Davis, a hero in their meeting in January, provided more late-game fireworks, giving SDSU the lead with 2.1 seconds left.
BJ DAVIS OMG
— Mountain West (@MountainWest) March 14, 2026
This game! pic.twitter.com/iBhi8aMome
Davis picked the right time to score his second bucket of the night after missing five of his first six. And despite all of the clutch moments he’s had this season, this was unquestionably his biggest.
Davis finished with 12 points and six dimes on 8-of-12 shooting from the charity stripe, while 7-foot center Magoon Gwath had 17 points and six rebounds on 6-of-10 shooting.
Albury may never want to take his sunglasses off, scoring a game-high 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting and 2-of-2 from 3-point range. Uriah Tenette, making his second consecutive start after coming off the bench for most of the season, was the Lobos’ only other double figure scorer with 11 points.
It was a fitting end for two programs, with several storied battles over the years, who likely won’t meet for a long time given the newfangled, disgusting realignment.
Oh, sorry. Did I say that out loud?
Despite finishing a minus-three on the glass, the two biggest differences was SDSU’s advantage was in transition (17-9) and in the paint (32-22). And the Aztecs had five fewer misses at the charity stripe, where neither team cracked 63 percent on 20-plus attempts.
San Diego State has now won eight-straight semifinal games and will now play in the MW Tournament title for the eighth time in nine seasons. The win-and-in finale against Utah State will tip off Saturday at 3:00 p.m. PST.