No. 13 San Diego State had a rough start in more ways than one before persevering against Wyoming for its 11th straight win.
After a bumpy charter flight detoured by stormy weather delayed the team's arrival in Laramie by 17 hours, the Aztecs overcame a turbulent first half and beat the Cowboys 52-42 on Tuesday night.
''It's like life, everything doesn't go perfect,'' Aztecs coach Steve Fisher said. ''We didn't let them feel sorry for themselves and we got a group of guys that don't. They never complain, which is very impressive. It's a big reason why we're as good as we are''
Jamaal Franklin had 12 points and 11 rebounds, and Chase Tapley added 12 points for the Aztecs (18-2, 4-0 Mountain West). It was Franklin's fifth double-double in his last seven games. His 11 rebounds were a career-high.
The victory was the 250th at San Diego State for Fisher, who is in his 13th season with the Aztecs.
''We're 4-0 in conference right now, that's a beautiful start,'' Aztecs forward Tim Shelton said.
Leonard Washington had 12 points and eight rebounds and Luke Martinez added 11 points for Wyoming (16-4, 2-2).
San Diego State was supposed to arrive in Laramie at 7 p.m. Monday but didn't get in until noon on game day.
''We were just flying for a while and all of a sudden I woke up and the snow was everywhere and there was turbulence,'' said Shelton, who had five points. ''Kind of scary but we got here.''
San Diego State struggled to a 25-22 halftime lead as it had difficulty defending Washington, who scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds in the first half.
But San Diego State opened the second half with a 16-4 run, keyed by seven points from James Rahon, to open a 41-26 lead with 12:15 to go.
''There's a time when you get a burst and a run and you got to maximize it, and we did that in a couple of stages,'' Fisher said.
Wyoming struggled with its shooting the rest of the game and got no closer than eight points.
Cowboys coach Larry Shyatt said his team ''self-destructed on offense.''
''We simply could not do what we needed to do in terms of pass selection, dribble selection, shot selection when we got the ball on offense,'' Shyatt said. ''That's disappointing.''
San Diego State held the Cowboys to 31 percent shooting from the field (15 of 49), including 23 percent from 3-point range.
The Aztecs shot 51 percent (21 of 41), including going 5 of 11 from 3-point range (45 percent).
During its winning streak, the Aztecs have not allowed any opponent to score more than 70 points. Entering Tuesday night's game, San Diego State had limited its opponents to 37 percent shooting from the field and 29.9 percent from beyond the 3-point line.
