San Diego State overcomes the elements, tightens grip on first place in Mountain West

During an 18-2 start to the season with more than a few eye-opening wins along the way, San Diego State established itself as one of the nation's most consistent teams. On Tuesday night, it firmly established itself as one of the nation's toughest. Ultimately, a 20-hour trip to Laramie, Wyo., that stretched over two days and included pit stops in Cedar City, Utah, and Grand Junction, Colo., turned out to be tougher than the Aztecs' 52-42 victory over upset-minded Wyoming. The Las Vegas oddsmakers set the game as a dead-even 'Pick 'em' on Monday night, but due to the assumptions that the travel woes would derail the 13th-ranked team in the land both mentally and physically, the Aztecs actually tipped off against the Cowboys as 2.5-point underdogs. "I didn't feel like it did," senior forward Tim Shelton said when asked if the extended trip affected his team. "If we weren't a team with such strong character, it would have. It was something...