Lamont Butler scored 16 points and No. 20 San Diego State held on for a 64-61 win against Colorado State in a Mountain West tournament quarterfinal game on Thursday afternoon in Las Vegas.

The top-seeded Aztecs advanced to play the winner between fifth-seeded San Jose State and fourth-seeded Nevada on Friday afternoon.

Matt Bradley scored 13 points and Jaedon LeDee scored 10 off the bench for San Diego State (25-6).

John Tonje scored 17 points, Isaiah Stevens scored 16 and Patrick Cartier finished with 12 points and seven rebounds for eighth-seeded Colorado State (15-18).

The Rams took their final lead at 59-58 on a 3-pointer by Stevens with 1:42 left.

LeDee made two free throws to put the Aztecs back in front with 1:20 remaining, and Bradley made two more with 16 seconds left for a 62-59 lead.

Colorado State opted to go for two points and Stevens scored on a drive to make it a one-point game.

Nathan Mensah made 1 of 2 free throws with 10 seconds left, and Stevens and Cartier both missed shots in the final seconds. Mensah got the rebound and made another free throw with one second left for the final margin.

San Diego State surrendered the first eight points of the game and wasn’t able to take the lead until Butler converted a three-point play for a 24-23 lead with 3:25 left in the first half.

The Aztecs eventually took a 27-25 advantage into halftime, despite shooting 37 percent from the floor and 2-for-11 from 3-point distance.

Butler led the way with eight points in the first half, while Tonje scored 13 for the Rams.

Keshad Johnson scored the first two points of the second half to extend San Diego State’s lead to 29-25, but the Rams wouldn’t go away. They moved back in front 33-31 on a jump hook by Cartier with 15:30 left.

–Field Level Media