San Diego State thumped Wyoming 67-41 Wednesday night at Viejas Arena to take a one-game lead for first place in the Mountain West Conference.
The school honored the legacy of icon Tony Gwynn by having students and fans don t-shirts with Gwynn’s name and basketball number on them, had his son Tony Gwynn Jr. lead the “I Believe” chant and had his daughter Anisha Gwynn Jones sang the National Anthem.
“The Tony Gwynn piece added something to the evening,” Coach Steve Fisher said postgame. “Our fans are terrific and they were on edge tonight. The salute to Tony added to it. We’re going to need them keep them going with us with our huge game coming up Saturday.”
It didn’t take long for an Aztecs offense that has struggled this season to find its groove against Wyoming.
They jumped out to a 25-5 lead nine and a half minutes into the game thanks to a 60 percent clip shooting 3-pointers in the first half.
On the night the Aztecs made 10 3-pointers at 50 percent, just one game removed from the team’s worst 3-point performance in their loss to Boise St. (10.5 percent).
Senior guard Aqeel Quinn led the way going 4-5 from behind the arc and tied junior guard Winston Shepard for the team lead with 18 points.
“Everybody felt good about themselves; I know that for a fact. About the shooting, we all felt confident, we all felt good when we were letting it go,” Quinn said postgame.
While the Aztecs had a great night shooting 3-pointers Wyoming did not have the same luck.
The Cowboys went a dismal 3-26 from behind the arc due to suffocating defense.
“We knew we were going to see a lot of three-point shots go up and knew that we needed to guard them, better than we have in some of the previous games and we did,” Fisher said.
SDSU will stay at home and look to avenge a loss at Colorado St. they suffered on Jan. 24.
Tip-off is slated for 5 p.m. and the game will be televised on CBS Sports Network.