Photo courtesy of Nevada Athletics. Nevada men’s basketball bench celebrate as a teammate scores against rival Boise State in Feb. 2021. Nevada fell to SDSU in the Mountain West Tournament semifinals.

Nevada men’s basketball suffered a tough 77-70 loss to the No.1 seeded San Diego State Aztecs in the Mountain West Tournament semifinals on Friday, potentially putting an end to the Wolf Pack’s season.

Nevada struggled shooting the ball at 35.8 percent (19-of-53) from the field and 23.8 percent (5-of-21) from 3-point range. Wolf Pack guards Grant Sherfield and Desmond Cambridge struggled in the first half, shooting a combined 2-of-11 from the field. Sherfield bounced back in the second half, finishing with a stat line of 25 points with six assists.

Despite the poor shooting performance, center Warren Washington displayed another solid performance. Washington scored 19 points on 6-9 shooting with nine rebounds.

Nevada’s ball security was shaky to start, leading to ten turnovers within the first nine minutes of play. The Aztecs took advantage with seven first-half steals. San Diego State took a comfortable nine-point lead with 12:40 left in the first half. Nevada did its best to cut that lead down, making it a five-point game going into halftime.

Despite the Pack being in striking distance entering the second half, the Aztecs opened the half on an 11-5 run with 15:48 left. Nevada found its offensive groove with a 9-2 run with 6:40 left, cutting the Aztec’s lead to just six points. The Aztecs responded with a 7-2 run of their own to fortify their lead and ultimately cementing Nevada’s fate.

Nevada’s finished the season at 16-10. This may be enough to edge them a spot in a potential postseason tournament such as the N.I.T. San Diego State will advance to the conference championship, where it will take on the winner of No. 2 seeded Colorado State vs No.3 seeded Utah State.

Noah Nobert can be reached at iburrows@sagebrush.unr.edu or on Twitter @SagebrushSports.