The Aztecs (21-9) swept the regular-season series against Boise State (23-9), but couldn’t win a third time. And probably didn’t deserve to after an abysmal performance on the boards in their fifth game without 7-foot Magoon Gwath, the Mountain West Freshman of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year.

Nick Boyd fueled San Diego State offensively, scoring 20 points and finishing as the only Aztec in double digits. BJ Davis put SDSU up 33-22 in the first half, but the Broncos responded with consecutive threes to trim their deficit to five points before intermission. The Broncos opened the second half on a 7-0 run.

No. 5 seed Boise State (23-9), which lost twice to the Aztecs in the regular season, finally got over the hump in the Mountain West quarterfinals at Thomas & Mack Arena, defeating fourth-seeded San Diego State 62-52 in a battle of NCAA tourney bubble teams.