Aztecs Are Left Inside

Wyoming’s control of the inside, especially by sophomore forward Reginald Slater, and a dismal performance at the free throw line had the San Diego State men’s basketball team in trouble most of the way Thursday night and resulted in a 76-60 Western Athletic Conference loss in front of 8,203 at Wyoming’s Arena-Auditorium.

Slater, whose mother was hospitalized in Houston earlier in the day with an undisclosed illness, scored 22 points and grabbed 18 rebounds while dominating on both ends of the floor. He had 12 rebounds in the second half, seven on offense, and reached double figures in both scoring and rebounding for the eighth time in 14 games this season.

When it was over, Slater turned his mind to family concerns.

“I cried my eyes out after the game,” he said.

The Aztecs fell to 9-7 and 1-2 in the WAC with their third consecutive loss in Laramie. Wyoming improved to 9-5 and 2-1.

As much damage as Slater and the Cowboys’ inside game caused--they also set a team single-game record with 15 blocked shots and had a 50-40 rebounding advantage--SDSU did at least as much to self-destruct at the foul line. The two teams shot 74 free throws but with wildly varying rates of success. The Aztecs made just 17 of 36; the Cowboys were 32 for 38 and made 13 in a row in the last seven minutes.

“We did a nice job on the free throws, didn’t we?” SDSU Coach Jim Brandenburg asked sarcastically. “Free throws become a confidence thing. We spend plenty of time on it. Missed free throws and missed layups caused problems.”

The Aztecs trailed, 36-27, at halftime. Center Marty Dow then did his best to drag them back into the game, taking a 44-35 deficit with 16:20 remaining and scoring six of SDSU’s next nine points to close it to 49-44 with 13 minutes left.

But on Wyoming’s next possession, Slater had three offensive rebounds. He converted the third to give the Cowboys a seven-point lead and start them on a 12-3 run that put the game away.

Dow had 21 points on 10-of-14 shooting, plus eight rebounds and a blocked shot.

“Dow hurt us,” said Wyoming Coach Benny Dees. “But that will happen when we have to put our freshmen on a post player. Dow played an excellent game for them.”

Wyoming is the conference’s youngest team, starting a senior, three sophomores and a freshman. Freshman center Reggie Page had four of the blocked shots.