Las Vegas, NV -- (Sports Network) - Ryan Amoroso scored 15 points and grabbed five rebounds as San Diego State held off Air Force, 53-49, in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Conference Tournament.

Richie Williams and Lorrenzo Wade added 12 points apiece for the fourth-seeded Aztecs (20-11), who avenged a 46-43 loss at Air Force last Saturday and secured their third consecutive 20-win campaign.

"Realistically Air Force is going to be the most difficult game on your schedule," said Wade. "You are not accustom to scoring 17 points in a half, and maybe 30, 40 points in a game, but that's their style of play. That's what they do. It's very difficult to play against them, especially because you are playing defense for so long. They try to fatigue you mentally. I think we had a bit of an advantage this time because we just played them a week ago so we understood what we were facing and it didn't catch us off guard or by surprise."

San Diego State moves on to face the top-seeded and 24th-ranked BYU Cougars in the semifinals on Friday.

Tim Anderson poured in a game-high 17 points, and Andrew Henke added 16 for the fifth-seeded Falcons (16-14), who had a two-game win streak snapped.

The Aztecs jumped out early, scoring the first five points of the contest, and never trailed the rest of the way. They later made it 12-8 on a pair of free throws by Amoroso, kicking off a 13-2 run. Williams capped it with a jumper at 6:16, giving San Diego State a 23-10 lead.

Air Force tried to play catch-up, but faced a 32-21 deficit at intermission.

The Falcons made things a little more interesting after the break, pulling within 39-33 on a Matt Holland trey at 12:28. The Aztecs continued to run in front, though, as time ticked down near the five-minute mark.

A pair of Henke free throws cut it 41-39 at 5:11, but following an SDSU turnover, Henke missed a three-point attempt at 4:35 that would have put the Falcons on top.

Evan Washington made it 41-all with two from the stripe at 3:50, but the teams traded shots from the line until a jumper by Williams made it 47-46 for the Aztecs with 2:20 left.

Air Force would get no closer, though, and Wade grabbed a key defensive rebound with just four seconds left to seal the win.

"I thought our kids really battled in the second half," said Air Force head coach Jeff Reynolds. "I thought the game could have went either way. You know, unfortunately, we didn't make a couple of shots, but I'm really proud of our kids' effort. Just a never-quit attitude and had a chance to win it down the stretch."