Glenn Connelly / Photo Editor

San Diego State desperately needed a win Saturday.A victory would have kept SDSU within a game of first place in the Mountain West Conference.It would have given the team momentum entering a killer stretch run to MWC play in which the team will play four of its final seven on the road. And it would have silenced the questions surrounding how the Aztecs would perform with junior forward Kyle Spain – the team’s No. 2 scorer – suspended indefinitely.Instead, SDSU lost 68-62 in Fort Worth, Texas, in front of roughly 3,000 fans to a TCU team that had dropped four straight – fanning the flames of debate and slipping into third place in the conference. “If you play well, you’re going to have a chance to win,” head coach Steve Fisher told AM KOGO 600 radio after the game. “If you don’t, it doesn’t matter who you play, you’re not going to have a chance.”And without Spain, the Aztecs did not play well. He was the major difference between the first game, in which SDSU held a 19-point lead and won by seven, and Saturday’s loss.After both teams struggled offensively to a 25-25 tie in the first half, the Horned Frogs caught fire. Thanks in part to a dismal effort by the Aztecs on the boards, the TCU shot 54 percent in the second half while winning the rebounding battle by 16 for the game.”It was physical and mental and we paid the price,” Fisher told KOGO. “You can’t give a team that many chances and you can’t give them 54 percent shooting in the second half.”Especially not when you’re missing a critical cog in your offensive machine. Without Spain, junior forward Lorrenzo Wade struggled against the Horned Frog defense that keyed on his every move. Wade turned the ball over six times and went 2-for-13 from the field.Spain’s replacement in the starting lineup, junior guard Kelvin Davis, did manage to score 15 points. “I was pleased that Kelvin stepped up and made some shots today,” Fisher told KOGO. “He’s got to guard better, we all do, but on the offensive end I was pleased with what he did tonight.”But the lack of depth did SDSU in, as only Davis and senior forward/center Ryan Amoroso, who had 20 points, scored in double figures.Still, the Aztecs (16-7, 6-3 in MWC play) hung in until the very end. Every TCU run was countered, and with less than a minute remaining Davis hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to two. But the Horned Frogs (12-10, 4-5) converted both shots on two 1-and-1’s to close out the game.After the game, Fisher was frustrated by his team’s seeming inability to overcome Spain’s suspension.”It should have had no effect on the intelligence and effort of our team,” Fisher told KOGO. “We have enough firepower and enough good quality players that we can step up and win games, but we did not do that today.”