SAN DIEGO _ The 30 NBA scouts in Viejas Arena on Wednesday night didn't witness big games from any of the pro prospects they came to see.
What they did see was the resuscitation, revival, even resurrection of a basketball program.
Twenty-six games into the season, San Diego State finally had the kind of performance and got the kind of win representative of the lofty expectations surrounding a program that has reached the NCAA Tournament _ college basketball's promised land _ seven times in the last nine seasons.
The Aztecs handed No. 6 Nevada just its second loss of the season, 65-57, before a roaring, raucous Viejas Arena crowd that included, for the first time in a long time, a full student section, which stormed the court at the buzzer. It is the highest ranked team the Aztecs have ever defeated.
And they did it with relative ease and aplomb, leading by nine at intermission and by 16 midway through the second half before Nevada closed to four in the final minute.
The momentary anxiety was erased by a floater in the lane by Jeremy Hemsley, followed by a Hemsley rebound of a Nevada miss, followed by two Hemsley free throws with 19.6 seconds left to clinch it.
Nevada coach Eric Musselman spent most of the first half railing at the officials, including one nose-to-nose confrontation with David Hall that resembled a manager-umpire altercation except no one kicked any dust.
By the second half, the fiery Musselman was standing hands on hips, or with arms crossed. Or just sitting on the bench, helpless to stem the wave of emotion and momentum washing over Viejas Arena _ or his team's dismal 12-of-20 shooting from the free-throw line.
His Wolf Pack entered the night 24-1 overall and 11-1 in the Mountain West. The best start in the conference's 20-year-history was 27-1 and 12-1, by SDSU in 2010-11.
The Aztecs (17-9, 9-4), winners of seven of their last eight games, made sure that won't be broken, at least not this season.
It was Nevada's third straight loss to the Aztecs, suddenly the only team it can't beat, let alone get close to beating. In the most recent meeting, in the semifinals of the Mountain West tournament last season, the Aztecs led by 34 points and held Nevada to 25 in the first half.
Nevada managed just 21 in the first half on Wednesday.
The difference was that in the game last March, the Aztecs shot 61.3 percent in the half and led by 55-25. This time, they shot 32.4 percent (only slightly better than Nevada's 30.4 percent) and led by nine.
Still, it was a shock to the Wolf Pack's system. Its first-half output over its last six games: 42, 48, 41, 52, 51 and 36 points.
The most amazing part of the half: The two guys averaging close to double-doubles were practically invisible. Nevada's Jordan Caroline, the favorite for Mountain West player of the year, had zero points and one rebound in the half. The Aztecs' Jalen McDaniels had zero points and two rebounds.
The other two attractions for scouts, Wolf Pack twins Caleb and Cody Martin, weren't much better. Midway through the second half, they were shooting a combined 2 of 11 and had four turnovers.
Like they have in their recent reversal of form, the Aztecs used a big run to change the game. Nevada had 10 turnovers in the first half, and five came during a 15-3 spurt punctuated by 3-pointers from Matt Mitchell, Hemsley and Jordan Schakel (back after missing six of the last seven games with a sprained ankle).
That put Viejas Arena into tilt mode and forced Musselman to do something he rarely has in a 24-1 season: call a timeout to break momentum.
He had to do it again in the second half after another 3, also by Schakel, that put the Aztecs up 12 with 13:06 to go. The lead grew to 16 before the Wolf Pack, architects of a pair of epic runs in the NCAA Tournament last year, tried to pull off another.
Hemsley and Devin Watson led a balanced Aztecs attack with 15 points each. McDaniels had 10 points and six rebounds. Mitchell had eight points and nine rebounds.
Nevada got 20 points from Caleb Martin, 17 in the second half. But no one else scored in double figures as the Wolf Pack shot 33.9 percent and was outrebounded 47-36.
