No. 2 San Diego State eliminated No. 7 Colorado State on day two of the 2026 Men’s Mountain West Championships in Las Vegas, by a final score of 71-62. 

While it was the first game in Sin City for the Aztecs, as the top four seeds earned a first-round bye, the Rams a day prior defeated No. 10 Fresno State, 67-63.

A midrange shot made by junior guard Miles Byrd is how the tournament began for the Aztecs in front of a great turnout of noisy SDSU faithful. 

“I mean, Vegas is home for both of us,” Byrd said in the postgame presser alongside sophomore forward and Las Vegas native Pharoh Compton. “Both of our peoples live out here, so we love coming back to Vegas. Our fan base loves to come back to Vegas too. It’s a quick five-hour drive, quick hour plane ride.”

Miles Byrd and Taj DeGourville wait near the half court line as the Aztecs attempt two free throws. (Brianna Marbella)

Colorado State flashed their offensive approach from the get go in battling a tough SDSU defense, shooting the three. Their first two makes were from beyond the arc. Juniors, forward Carey Booth and guard Brandon Rechsteiner cashed in. 

Cutting the lead down to three to a 13-10 Rams score, sophomore big Magoon Gwath picked up the offensive board and drew the and-one with around 13 minutes left in the first half. 

Byrd, who was recently named MW Defensive Player of the Year, dialed up the defensive highlight reel in the first half.  He rejected sophomore guard Jase Butler and stole cookies from senior guard Jevin Muniz. 

In transition, Byrd flew down the court and laid the cookies for the and-one. 

Coming off a career game dropping 30 points against UNLV six days ago, junior guard BJ Davis took the spotlight with just under 12 minutes left in the half. Within 30 seconds, he tallied two steals and four points.

BJ Davis starts the Aztec possession as he decides a play. (Brianna Marbella)

The steals came off Aztec head coach, Brian Dutcher’s relentless full court press. The Rams were overwhelmed by the five men on the court and the travelling sixth man in the stands belting ‘woo.’ 

“No disrespect for Fresno, we spent four days getting ready for Colorado State,” Dutcher said. “I think everyone could see we were pretty locked in defensively.” 

Rechstiner put junior center Miles Heide on skates with a nice move, shooting over the big cashing a three that retook the lead for the Rams, 22-21.

In the final minute prior to half, the Aztecs front court played as if they were the back court. Compton shaking and baking from the high post as the 6 foot and 7 inch center looked like a guard. The proceeding and final score of the half was a Gwath three by the seven footer.

Spirits were high heading into the locker room as the “S-D-S-U Aztecs Fight” chant rang through the Thomas and Mack Center with a 39-27 Aztecs lead.

Taj DeGourville focuses on the ball as the Colorado State Rams attempt to make a play. (Brianna Marbella)

Colorado State’s strategy in the second was to shoot the three over Dutcher’s difficult defense and ‘hack-an-Aztec’ as KCR Broadcaster Leo Wornov labeled it. The final 6 minutes, 49 seconds, were very peculiar as I heard ‘this is not basketball’ in the media section during that span. 

Head coach of the Rams, Ali Farokhmanesh, expectedly gameplanned the three pointer but oddly instructed his players to foul the Aztecs intentionally as they shot a poor 22-42 from the line. 

“They [Rams] fouled anybody, everybody and anybody. Byrd missed. Reese missed. Tae missed. Heide missed. Magoon missed too. Just go down the list. It didn’t matter who they picked. We didn’t have anybody making them,” Dutcher said. 

No field goals were scored by SDSU in those 6 minutes, 49 seconds and as Dutcher put it, nobody was making form the free throw line. 

Nonetheless, the second half did have hype to it. 

Byrd, prior to inbounding the ball on his own baseline, exchanged words with junior big Agustinas Kiudilas. Byrd found freshman forward Simmons open in mid court beating the Rams press.

Simmons brought lob city to Sin City as Heide went jamming. 

“Obviously Elzie [Harrington] is out with the leg, and Sean stepped back in,” Dutcher said. “He did a great job. Obviously we have Taj backing him up and then BJ capable of playing multiple positions. So we still have a lot of depth at that position.”

It was not the prettiest basketball played by the Aztecs but it was winning basketball in the postseason. 

“Our defense is everything for us, so just not letting them score, that’s our identity,” Compton said. “Every time we go down and just not letting them score, that’s big-time.”

My biggest takeaway from this was how it was a team victory. It brought me back to the beginning of the season of how there were question marks surrounding this group of players that lacked experience playing with another. 

Compton led the way off the bench with 11 points, as the Aztecs bench outscored the Rams bench 24-6. 

Simmons and senior guard Sean Newman Jr. started in their first postseason game wearing the Scarlet and Black and did not disappoint.

“Obviously Elzie [Harrington] is out with the leg, and Sean stepped back in,” Dutcher said. “He did a great job. Obviously we have Taj backing him up and then BJ capable of playing multiple positions. So we still have a lot of depth at that position.”

Again, these players either freshmen or transfers do not have much experience playing with another before this season. Those questions that surrounded this team back in the fall were answered by this postseason team victory.