They didn’t have to come back as far this time, but San Diego State offered fans another thriller Saturday, beating Wyoming 63-61 at Viejas Arena.

“A tough, hard fought one, but one we needed it,” said coach Brian Dutcher, after watching his team hold off Wyoming in the final seconds.

Dutcher said the Aztecs weren’t focused for the whole game, but added: “We made enough plays to win the game when it was in doubt. Proud of our effort. Proud of our kids.”

The Aztecs (15-5, 8-3 Mountain West) were again on their home court after a remarkable 21-point comeback victory in their last game against San Jose State, hosting the Cowboys (11-11 record, 4-7 MW).

Guard Nick Boyd started the scoring for the Aztecs with a corner three-pointer. With the game tied at 7-7 after five minutes had gone by, it remained a back-and-forth contest. Then guard Myles Byrd stuffed home the ball after a lob pass from guard Taj DeGourville to give the Aztecs a 10-9 lead.

SDSU’s offense started to heat up, with forward Miles Heide jamming home two points and later stealing the ball and getting it to guard BJ Davis for a three. A Magoon Gwath layup gave the Aztecs a 20-14 lead with eight minutes to go in the first half.

The Cowboys battled back to take a 21-20 lead after guard Jordan Nesbit hit a three and then another basket in back-to-back possessions.

Both teams entered brief scoring droughts until Gwath blocked a ball and followed by hitting a jumper to give the Aztecs a 26-25 lead. Two free throws by Byrd finished the scoring in the first half with San Diego State up 28-25.

A three from Wyoming guard Dontaie Allen tied the game at 28-28 as the second half started. But Gwath immediately responded with a corner three to put the Aztecs up again. After Boyd hit another three, the Aztecs pushed their lead to 34-28.

But Wyoming battled back for a 39-36 advantage with about 12 minutes left in the game. The Cowboys maintained that lead and expanded it to six when Allen was left alone in the corner and drained a three.

All this came as the Aztecs entered another drought, going one for their nine in field goals. It got worse as Wyoming went up nine points with six minutes to go after Allen hit another three-pointer.

But as is typical with the Aztecs, they mounted a late-game push, sparked by, of all things, their free-throw shooting.

After Wyoming’s Matija Belic fouled out, Gwath hit two free throws. And a critical foul on the Cowboys allowed Byrd to sink three. Gwath landed another to cut the deficit to 50-49.

Even when they missed free throws, it worked out for SDSU. A miss by Gwath led to an offensive rebound by Byrd, who followed with a layup, giving San Diego State a 51-50 lead. Gwath followed with a jumper to expand the lead to 53-50 with three minutes to play.

With the home crowd roaring, the Cowboys missed two consecutive baskets and Heide went up for two points. The Aztecs had opened up a 55-50 lead with a little over a minute to go.

Heide followed with another tough layup to make it 57-50. But with about 30 seconds to go, the game still wasn’t settled as Boyd picked up a technical foul and was ejected from the game. Another foul on DeGourville allowed the Cowboys to hit last-second free throws. They also got a three pointer from guard Obi Agbim with two seconds left to shock the Aztecs and cut the lead to 62-61.

“Something like that cannot happen at the end of the game,” Gwath said.

SDSU finally sealed the victory with a free throw from guard Kimo Ferrari, giving Wyoming no time to shoot and leaving the final score at 63-61.

“Basketball is a game of runs,” said DeGourville. “We gotta be able to stay strong and be able to fight back if things aren’t going our way.”