Cowboys Hand Aztecs Fifth Consecutive Loss : Basketball: Wyoming wins WAC opener, 85-72.

San Diego State’s new look lasted only the few minutes it took to get its Western Athletic Conference opener against Wyoming under way Thursday night.

In the Aztecs locker room afterward, the old look had returned. Long faces. Quiet voices. The distinctive look of a losing locker room.

SDSU Coach Jim Brandenburg, using his ninth lineup in 12 games, started freshmen Robert Ringo and John Molle together at guard for the first time, but the Aztecs were hogtied by the Cowboys anyway, 85-72, in front of 2,246 in the San Diego Sports Arena.

The Aztecs (2-10, 0-1) have lost five in a row and have stumbled to their worst start since 1986-87, when Smokey Gaines’ last team went 2-23 on its way to a 5-25 season.

It is getting ugly.

A few minutes before tipoff, two men marched the length of the court hoisting a banner reading, “Goodbye Brandenburg; Hello Tark” in reference to Nevada Las Vegas Coach Jerry Tarkanian, who is in his last season at UNLV and owns a condominium in San Diego. Chuck Clegg, SDSU soccer coach, came to the rescue and ripped the banner away from the men.

And Thursday, even the Aztecs’ timer was against them. A few seconds ticked off the clock that shouldn’t have late in the second half, and the clock displayed “3:14.” SDSU trailed at that point, 73-66, and one of the referees ordered four seconds added.

Instead of going to 3:18, though, the timer let the clock tick to 3:10, and play resumed. Although SDSU coaches attempted to point out the lost eight seconds at the next time out, the officials would have none of it.

“It looks silly now,” said Greg Graham, SDSU assistant coach. “But if it was a close game . . .”

The Aztecs trailed by 10 at half and twice trimmed Wyoming’s lead to three, but that was as close as it got. The Cowboys (9-3, 1-0) made 32 of 38 free throws--including 25 of 29 in the second half.

The Cowboys, who had lost their last three games to SDSU, certainly were beatable on this night. Without three of their top seven players from last year’s team, they made only eight of their 24 second-half shots and shot 48% from the field for the game. Center Reggie Page, who was a starter last season, and guards Paris Bryant and Rick Henry, Wyoming’s sixth and seventh men last season, were all ruled academically ineligible for the season.

But Wyoming has plenty of experience, and SDSU started two freshmen and has two more freshmen backing up center Joe McNaull.

“(Experience is) everything. . . . I can’t tell you what it’s like playing a 22-year-old senior when (SDSU center) Chris Davis is 17 and doesn’t turn 18 until next month,” said Brandenburg, who is in his fifth year at SDSU.

And Wyoming also has 6-foot-7, 250-pound Reggie Slater, who is seventh in the nation in rebounding (12 per game) and second in the WAC in scoring (21 points per game). SDSU’s Nelson Stewart did a respectable job on Slater but ran out of steam toward the end. Slater finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds.

And Stewart was left staring at the statistics sheet in disbelief afterward.

“He couldn’t have had 20,” Stewart said to nobody in particular. “He couldn’t have had that many. . . .”

For the Aztecs, WAC play turned out to be like pre-WAC play. They didn’t shoot well overall (41%) or from three-point range (29.4%) and didn’t play good enough defense to compensate.

Molle, averaging only six minutes a game, scored 13 points in 21 minutes, but Ringo added only two. Together, they shot five of 15 from the field and had three assists and no turnovers.

“I thought we did some things offensively and I thought we gave some stuff up defensively,” Brandenburg said when asked about Molle and Ringo. “There were some loose balls bouncing around and the guards have got to pick them up.”

SDSU’s guards haven’t been aggressive all season. The team leader in steals is forward Keith Balzer, who has 10--and has only played in six of SDSU’s 12 games. Second is Joe McNaull, SDSU’s 6-foot-10 center, with nine.

“Our guard defense has got to get better,” Stewart said. “It has to get better.”

Courtie Miller led SDSU with 17 points, McNaull had 13 and Stewart 11. Wyoming’s Tim Breaux had 23 and Maurice Alexander had 19.