The Cougars led 33-31 at the half after allowing a length-of-the-court drive from the league's top dribbler, Wesley Stokes, for a layin at the buzzer. It marked BYU's first halftime lead of the season on an opponent's court. BYU led the entire first 20 minutes with the Aztecs tying the score at 9 and 13.

Hall led the Cougars early, scoring 10 points with 4 rebounds at the half. Meads, in his third start (besides Boise State and Oklahoma State), added eight points in the first half despite playing with a sore groin muscle.

The Cougars took a 23-15 lead on a 10-0 run with seven minutes left in the first half. In addition to defensive stops and the Aztecs going 0 for 10 from the field, Hall and Bigelow each hit 3-pointers and Jake Shoff and Jared Jensen both finishing scoring drives from outside the key for layins.

The game attracted requests from 10 NBA scouts — including Jerry West from the Memphis Grizzlies — who wanted a gander at Araujo and Sanders. Araujo was almost AWOL, missing his only two field goal attempts and picking up his second personal foul with four minutes to play in the first half.

Araujo got his third foul two and a half minutes into the second half and headed for the bench with the Cougars nursing a 38-36 advantage at the 17:23 mark. That's when the Aztecs went on a 9-2 run to lead 44-40 and Cleveland put back in his big man at 14:28.

The Aztecs extended the run to 15-2 to lead 50-42, stirring the crowd into a frenzy on a shot by Randy Heath. To answer on the other end, Araujo managed his first field goal of the night — 31 minutes into the contest with 11:08 remaining. It was his fifth shot attempt in the game.

The big Brazilian then got a dunk and short jumper to close SDSU's lead to 54-48 but on the next SDSU possession, he picked up his fourth hacking Sanders, who made the bucket and converted for a 57-48 Aztec lead with 7:38 left.

Cleveland elected to keep his big man on the court, which proved beneficial especially in rebounding. He had five in the final five minutes.

The Cougars blew an eight-point first-half lead, and the Aztecs handed a 10-point advantage back during crunch time.

The Cougars came roaring back with a 13-3 run to tie the game at 57 on a bomb by Bigelow with five minutes remaining. Araujo converted a pair at the line to extend the tie at 59.

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E-MAIL: dharmon@desnews.com