The shorthanded Spartans, the tournament darlings you just can’t help but root for, ran out of gas.

No. 3 New Mexico was solid against No. 11 San Jose State, and its 93-77 win is sending them to a 2024 final rematch for the semifinal of the 2026 Credit Union 1 Mountain West Men’s Basketball Championship.

It would have been hard to predict a month ago that the Spartans would dominantly knock off an always-formidable Boise State team and then give a top-of-the-line MW team a run for its money, but anything’s possible in March.

But the firepower New Mexico brings, with a budding star coach in Eric Olen, was too much in the end. Freshman forward Tomislav Buljan led all scorers and rebounders with 25-point, 14-rebound debut in the MW tournament. His 10-11 shooting day was the second-highest percentage from the field (minimum 10 attempts) in MW tournament history (90.9%).

On top of the performance of Buljan, who averages a double-double, the Lobos outscored the Spartans 56-24 in the paint.

“We knew that we can’t underestimate this team. They beat Boise (State). We prepared well. We play like a team. A little bit of a slow start, but we caught up,” Buljan said. “We were sharing the ball, playing good defense when it mattered and as a collective pushing each other even when things are not going well, and we need to move on.”

An unbelievable Spartan outing from the first round bled into the quarterfinal, and once again, the backcourt duo of Jermaine Washington Jr. and Colby Garland starred. Garland led the Spartans with 20 points and added a team-high seven assists and Washington scored a hard-earned 11. Adrian Myers had a quiet but impactful 19 points and Sadraque NgaNga contributed 15.

Timely plays to start the second half, particularly an NgaNga 3 to quiet a rowdy Lobo crowd after a mini-run, helped San Jose State to hang around and keep their deficit less than 10.

With 16 minutes to go, Lobos forward Antonio Chol checked in, and three minutes later, bursted for a 7-0 run by himself to push a lead to 13. Olen said Chol, who has started every single game this year prior to Thursday’s quarterfinal, came up with the idea to come off the bench. In that run, he had two layups and an energy-infusing 3.

“Yeah, (Chol) was great in the second half. I thought his activity defensively fueled a lot of the stuff offensively for him,” Olen said. “A couple of good drives, hit a big three. Yeah, I thought he played really well, specifically in the second half.”

The final piece to the puzzle that overwhelmed San Jose State was freshman guard Jake Hall, whose shooting from beyond the arc continues to dazzle. En route to five 3s on the night, which accounted for 15 of his 19 points, he hit his 100th trey of the season, becoming the first-ever MW freshman to hit that mark. No other first-year in the conference has ever made more than 75.

It changes the way teams have to prepare and play defense, especially when he overperforms like he did Thursday night, only missing a single attempt from deep. As the stakes get higher every game, he seems to just get better. That will be put to the test in Friday’s semifinal against No. 2 San Diego State — a rematch of the 2024 championship game.

“He’s unbelievable. He’s more than just a shooter, he is a great basketball player all around,” senior teammate Luke Haupt said. “We see that every night. Super happy and blessed to have him on our team and not a different one.”