The Utah State Aggies blocked out the noise, the scoreboard and their opponent's reputation Saturday.
The Aggies, No. 1 in this week's Nevada Appeal Mountain West rankings, found themselves down by 18 (40-22) on the road at San Diego in front of a Viejas Arena crowd of 12,414.
"'Don't be intimidated by these people (the crowd)," Utah State coach Jerrod Calhoun told his team during a timeout, according to the Deseret News. '"It's a basketball game. Who cares about them? It's like you've never played before.'"
The Aggies proceeded to outscore the Aztecs 45-26 the rest of the way to steal an impressive 67-66 victory in one of the toughest places to play in the Mountain West.
It is Utah State's first win on the road against an Associated Press Top 25 team (San Diego State was No. 20 last week) since it beat Utah (74-72) on Dec. 10, 1991.
"That's what Utah State did last year," Aztecs coach Brian Dutcher told goaztecs.com. "It's like deja vu. They won a lot of games at the buzzer."
Utah State's Tucker Anderson hit a 3-pointer with seven seconds left to silence the crowd. Anderson, who had 14 points off the bench, also had a 3-pointer to cut San Diego State's lead to 65-64.
Utah State (12-1, 2-0) will play at No. 5 Nevada (8-5, 0-2) Tuesday night on New Year's Eve in another important Mountain West road game. No. 3 San Diego State (8-3, 1-1) got 14 points each from Nick Boyd and Miles Byrd against Utah State, though the pair was just 3-of-11 on threes.
"I told the team, 'We're going to have 16 or 17 games just like this,'" Dutcher said. "Every game in the Mountain West goes right down to the end."
"Sometimes you need these types of losses to remain humble and keep pushing," Byrd told goaztecs.com.
No. 2 Boise State (10-3, 2-0) also needed late heroics to hold off No. 9 San Jose State, 73-71, on the road Saturday. Javan Buchanan had a layup for a 73-70 lead and then blocked a layup attempt by San Jose State's Josh Uduje with a second to play to secure the victory.
"It didn't really go the way we wanted in terms of X's and O's," Buchanan told Bronco Nation News.com. "But we gutted it out. I'm just proud of the way we fought."
Tyson Degenhart had 26 points to lead Boise State. Uduje had 22 for San Jose State, which led 35-28 at halftime and 43-32 with 17 minutes left. The Spartans, now 7-7, 0-2, also got 11 points and eight rebounds from Robert Vaihola.
Degenhart had two layups in the final two minutes for the Broncos, who are now 41-4 all-time against San Jose State.
No. 3 New Mexico (10-3, 2-0) held off No. 8 Colorado State, 76-68, on the road on Saturday. Donovan Dent and Mustapha Amzil each had 14 for the Lobos. Nique Clifford had 17 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three steals for Colorado State (7-6, 1-1), which was coming off a 66-64 win at Nevada on Dec. 21.
"Give our guys credit, coming back from Christmas and having three great days of prep," New Mexico coach Richard Pitino told golobos.com. "They were ready to go. Colorado State was coming off a win at Nevada and we knew we needed to have this one."
"We weren't able to assert ourselves for long periods of time," Colorado State coach Niko Medved told csurams.com.
"They just pressured us and we needed to be more physical," Clifford said.
No. 5 Nevada (8-5, 0-2) has now lost four of its last six games in the month of December. The Wolf Pack got 15 points each from Kobe Sanders and Nick Davidson in its 66-63 loss to No. 7 Wyoming on Saturday in Laramie, Wyo.
Wyoming (8-5, 1-1) got 18 points from Obi Agbim and was 7-of-10 on threes against Nevada in the second half (11-of-21 for the game).
"This was a good win against a quality opponent," Wyoming coach Sundance Wicks told gowyo.com. "For us, pressure is good and stress is bad. We want pressure and our pace puts pressure on opponents so they try to speed us up. We want opponents to have stressful possessions late in the game."
A crowd of 4,357 watched the Cowboys beat Nevada.
"Poke fans love great weather," Wicks said. "The roads were good, the weather was fine so come out and let's wine and dine. It was a great night and our fans helped us add stress (on Nevada) late in the game. That's what it is all about."
No. 6 UNLV (7-5, 1-0) beat No. 10 Fresno State, 87-77 at home in front of 5,590 fans Saturday. Dedan Thomas led the Rebels with 21 points and six assists.
The Rebels built a 48-30 lead at halftime before Fresno State rallied to cut the deficit to 56-52 on a 3-pointer by former Nevada Wolf Pack guard Jalen Weaver with 13 minutes left in the second half.
"We were just way too timid coming out in the second half," UNLV coach Kevin Kruger told reviewjournal.com. "We didn't have the level of aggression we needed. We didn't come out like it was 0-0."
The Nevada Appeal Mountain West men's basketball rankings for the week of Dec. 30:
1. UTAH STATE (12-1, 2-0): Last week: Utah State 67, San Diego State 66 (Dec. 28). This week: Utah State at Nevada (Dec. 31); Fresno State at Utah State (Jan. 4).
2. BOISE STATE (10-3, 2-0): Last week: Boise State 73, San Jose State 71 (Dec. 28). This week: Boise State at Wyoming (Dec. 31), San Diego State at Boise State (Jan. 4).
3. NEW MEXICO (10-3, 2-0). Last week: New Mexico 76, Colorado State 68 (Dec. 28). This week: New Mexico at Fresno State (Dec. 31), Nevada at New Mexico (Jan. 3).
4. SAN DIEGO STATE (8-3, 1-1). Last week: Utah State 67, San Diego State 66 (Dec. 28). This week: San Diego State at Boise State (Jan. 4).
5. NEVADA (8-5, 0-2). Last week: Wyoming 66, Nevada 63 (Dec. 28). This week: Utah State at Nevada (Dec. 31), Nevada at New Mexico (Jan. 3).
6. UNLV (7-5, 1-0). Last week: UNLV 87, Fresno State 77 (Dec. 28). This week: UNLV at Air Force (Dec. 31), San Jose State at UNLV (Jan. 4).
7. WYOMING (8-5, 1-1). Last week: Wyoming 66, Nevada 63 (Dec. 28). This week: Boise State at Wyoming (Dec. 31); Wyoming at Air Force (Jan. 4).
8. COLORADO STATE (7-6, 1-1). Last week: New Mexico 76, Colorado State 68 (Dec. 28). This week: Colorado State at San Jose State (Dec. 31).
9. SAN JOSE STATE (7-7, 0-2). Last week: Boise State 73, San Jose State 71 (Dec. 28). This week: Colorado State at San Jose State (Dec. 31), San Jose State at UNLV (Jan. 4).
10. FRESNO STATE (4-9, 0-2). Last week: UNLV 87, Fresno State 77 (Dec. 28). This week: New Mexico at Fresno State (Dec. 31), Fresno State at Utah State (Jan. 4).
11. AIR FORCE (3-9, 0-1): Last week: No games. This week: UNLV at Air Force (Dec. 31), Wyoming at Air Force (Jan. 4).