When Steve Fisher was hired as San Diego State's head coach in 1999, he took over a team that went 4-22 the year before and hadn't had a winning season in three years.

Three years later, Fisher took the Aztecs to the NCAA tournament. And, after making the tournment again in 2006 and 2010, Fisher led SDSU to a 34-3 record last year and spot in the Sweet 16.

Fisher, perhaps more than anyone, knows what it takes to turn around a slumping program.

The veteran coach, who won a national championship in 1989 and led Michigan's 'Fab Five' to back-to-back title games in the early 1990s, likes what he sees in Jim Christian.

""He has done a magnificent job with his team this year and with the way he has grown the program," Fisher said of TCU's head coach. "They're lucky to have him here and he's shown what he can do given resources and time."

Christian and his team proved Fisher's point Saturday night.

The TCU men’s basketball team overcame an 18-point second half deficit but eventually fell in overtime to No. 21 San Diego State 98-92 Saturday night at Daniel-Meyer Colisuem.

The loss was TCU’s second in a row and came in its regular season finale. The Frogs lost 71-59 at Wyoming Tuesday night.

TCU (17-13 overall, 7-7 Mountain West) trailed SDSU 63-45 with 15:21 left, but gradually worked its way back into the game, tying it at 77-77 at the 5:40 mark. Then, with 1:46 left in the game, Hank Thorns hit a three-pointer to give TCU its first lead since the 6:54 mark of the second half.

The Frogs carried that lead into the final 30 seconds.

But SDSU evened it up.

Tim Shelton made a layup and was fouled, making his free throw and tying the game at 83-83 with 21 seconds left.

Thorns drove into the lane on TCU’s next possession but couldn’t get a shot in, sending the Frogs into their second overtime game against a ranked oppenent in their last three tries.

TCU beat then-No. 11 UNLV 102-97 in overtime Feb. 14.

The Frogs weren’t as successful against the Aztecs.

SDSU scored the first bucket of the extra period and ended up outscoring TCU 15-9 in overtime to win.

Christian said his team's comeback Saturday night was reflective of what it's done all season.

"I'm proud of our kids," Christian said. "They never got down. They fought back like they did all year. Unfortunately, we came up short."

Christian said his team is confident it can beat any team in the league as it heads into the conference tournament next week — even SDSU, the only Mountain West team the Frogs haven't knocked off this year.

"We've proven that we can play and beat everybody in this league," Christian said. "San Diego State was the one team we didn't beat, but we knew we had our opportunities."

Thorns led TCU with 25 points, including 21 in the second half. J.R. Cadot, who, along with Thorns, Craig Williams and Cheick Kone, was playing his final home game, scored 24.

Christian said Thorns and Cadot were key to the comeback for TCU, who trailed 46-34 at the break after shooting 32.4 percent (12-of-37) from the field in the first half.

"He was huge," Christian said of Thorns. "J.R. Cadot was huge tonight. Garlon Green, defensively, I thought did a lot of great things."

Cadot said SDSU was in complete control at halftime — on and offense and defense. The Frogs came out with a different mind set in the second half, but couldn't completely overcome a subpar opening 20 minutes, Cadot said.

"They were getting anything they wanted to," Cadot said. "We tried adjusting in the second half and did good but I think the first half really got to us. We can't come out like that being lackadaisacal on defense.

Still, Cadot was proud of how him and teammates kept chipping away at the lead.

"We fought, we fought, we fought," Cadot said. "That's the type of team we are and that's how I want it to be."

SDSU (24-6, 10-4) was carried by Jamaal Franklin, who finished with 35 points and 13 rebounds, both game-high totals.

Fisher said it's hard to beat the effort Franklin puts into every game.

"He's as good a competitor that I've had the privilege to coach," Fisher said. "He's slowly but steadily blending in to what we need him to do. There's no better competitor in the United States than Jamaal Franklin."

The Aztecs clinched a share of the Mountain West regular season title with the win and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, which begins Thursday in Las Vegas.