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Las Vegas • With a 1:47 left in Thursday's Mountain West Conference quarterfinal, coach Tim Duryea thought Utah State was in perfect position to upset top-seeded San Diego State.
He was planning accordingly.
The Aggies owned a two-point lead and the officials stood at the scorer's table, reviewing an apparent foul on the Aztecs' Zylan Cheatham, who had been called for hitting Lew Evans in the throat with an elbow.
If the officials ruled an intentional foul, Utah State would have gotten two free throws and possession.
If it was ruled a common foul, the Aggies would still own the ball with a chance to make it a two-possession game with 90 seconds remaining.
Neither happened.
After the review, the foul on Cheatham was rescinded, the Aztecs maintained possession and, eventually, escaped with a 71-65 victory at the Thomas & Mack Center.
"I thought we would have the ball and maybe two free throws," Duryea said. "I thought we'd at least have the ball. … Lew said he'd gotten hit. He said he'd definitely gotten hit. When we huddled, we were proceeding along those lines."
Surprise — San Diego State retained possession.
"The explanation given to me was, when they blow the whistle, they can take the foul back," Duryea said. "They determined it was not intentional or flagrant. Then they determined it was not a foul. So it basically becomes a play-on without the whistle blowing."
On the Aztec possession, Malik Pope tied the game. With 45 seconds left, Trey Kell gave San Diego State its first lead in the last 11 minutes.
Trailing 63-61 with 12 second remaining, Utah State's Jalen Moore took the ball to the basket against the Aztecs' Winston Shepard. He stumbled and missed a wild shot as he was falling across the baseline.
"I just tried to play defense," Shepard said. "I didn't know what he was going to do. I just knew I had at stay solid. I just tried to move my feet and he fell."
The game ended in a bizarre fashion.
With 3.8 seconds left, Utah State's Shane Rector hit two free throws to make it 66-65. While the Aztecs were inbounding, the Aggies' Julion Pearre was called for an intentional foul near midcourt.
San Diego State's Dakarai Allen buried two free throws to make it 68-65. Then, on another inbounds play, Rector was called for a flagrant foul and the Aztecs iced the game.
In all, San Diego State was 8-for-10 from the free-throw line in the final 10.3 seconds.
"Tough, tough loss," said Duryea. "Tough way to end the year. But I thought our guys really battled. … I was extremely proud of them today."
Evans led Utah State with 15 points. Moore finished with 14 points and nine rebounds.
The Aggies ended up out rebounding the Aztecs, 40-33.
"That was what we'd thought it would be — a hard-fought, closely contested game between two teams that desperately wanted to win," San Diego State coach Steve Fisher said. "… They are a team that's been playing as well as anybody in the league and we got what we thought we'd get."
Twitter: @sluhm —
Storylines
R Trey Kell scores 17 points to lead San Diego State to a 71-65 win over Utah State in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Conference men's basketball tournament.
• Lew Evans finishes with 15 points and Jalen Moore adds 14 for the Aggies, who missed 11 of their 30 free throws against the top-seeded Aztecs.
• Utah State finishes with a 16-15 record in coach Tim Duryea's first season as head coach. The Aggies have not had a losing season since 1992-93. —
Mountain West men's schedule
Thursday
Quarterfinals
San Diego State 71, Utah State 65
New Mexico-Nevada, later
Fresno State-UNLV, later
Boise State-Colorado State, later
Friday
Semifinals
7 p.m. • No. 1 San Diego State (24-8) vs. No. 4 New Mexico (18-14)/No. 5 Nevada (19-12)
9:30 p.m. • No. 2 Fresno State/No. 7 UNLV (19-14) vs. No. 3 Boise State (21-11)/No. 6 Colorado State (18-15)
Saturday
Championship game, 4 p.m.