Cougs' OT dunk deflated Aztecs

PROVO — Lurking around in a tie for third place in the Mountain West may not be ideal, but it is what it is for BYU heading into road trips at Wyoming and Colorado State this weekend.

One thing is certain, however. Two wins at home over UNLV and San Diego State provided the Cougars with a dose of much-needed confidence heading into the second half of conference play.

"We dug ourselves a hole, and now we've got to go do the best we can from here," coach Steve Cleveland said. "Obviously, Air Force and Utah can determine their own destiny as the leaders in the standings."

On Monday, that was never more apparent than seconds after the Cougars made it to overtime with the Aztecs after struggling to attack SDSU's zone defense. Junior Mike Hall (20 points) watched as Aztec shooting guard Brandon Heath's shot at the buzzer bounced on the rim five times before rolling harmlessly away.

"I thought it was in, to be honest with you," Hall said. "I thought it was going in and it was over."

"I thought it was in," SDSU coach Steve Fisher said.

Instead, it was overtime.

"We were pumped up. We knew right there we were going to win in overtime," Hall said. "We knew we had the energy left in us to take care of them and put the game away."

Hall took the midcourt tip, which appeared to be controlled by SDSU, and ran it in for a break-away dunk. It was kind of a statement play — one the Cougars had been looking to find for more than a month. It demoralized SDSU's players. The Cougars (14-7, 4-4) then outscored the Aztecs 16-2 to lift BYU to a convincing victory.

Chris Walton led the Aztecs (12-11, 3-5) with 17 points and eight rebounds. Walton fouled out 90 seconds into overtime. Aerick Sanders added 13 and Marcus Slaughter 11.

"We fought back in large part because of Chris Walton," Fisher said. "He was sensational — not because of his stats but his intelligence."

Fisher said the Aztecs slipped in overtime, and it started with his guys getting the opening tip only to have Hall turn it into a dunk.

"What looked like our first possession was a dunk for them," he said. "It was an unraveling after that. We could never gather any composure or momentum after they took us to the woodshed."