MWC Tournament: San Diego State Wins Mountain West Title, 55-45 Over UNLV

The Mountain West is now for sure getting four teams into the NCAA tournament. This matchup was the complete opposite of the previous round games which were high scoring and down to the wire. The first half of this game was less then desirable to watch as the game was scoreless for the first four minutes and half ended with San Diego State up 25-22. Neither team was able to shoot the ball which was a surprise since the Rebels were playing on their home court in front of sell out crowd that was a pro Rebel crowd.

The second half was only slightly better then the first half, but neither team really shot all that well. Both teams shot under forty percent from the field. The Rebels did look to look like they were going to pull away as they lead 38-34 halfway through the second half after coming back from a 28-24 deficit. Then the Aztecs decided to shoot the ball well to take control of the game, and Rebels kept shooting their 30 something percent. Plus the rebels had five of their 15 turnovers in the last eight minutes of the game.

First off the game is a 7PM eastern tip on Versus which is the third network in three days for the Mountain West, so no reason to cast blame for people who had a tough time watching the tournament. However, if you are a DirecTv subscriber find alternate solutions to watch the game since the channel is still off the air.

Now onto the game, each team pulled off the upset in last nights game with UNLV over BYU, and San Diego State defeating New Mexico. The San Diego State win makes them pretty much a lock to the NCAA tournament, as is UNLV. However, there is a small amount of concern since Houston upset UTEP in the C-USA final, and that could mean one less at large spot if UTEP gets in.

Here are the highlights from last nights game between San Diego State vs. New Mexico and UNLV vs. BYU. There could have been many reasons to miss the game, CBS College Sports is not offered in your area or the games were to late for you east coasters.

Do not forget tonight’s championship game is between New Mexico and UNLV with a 7PM eastern tip is on Versus. Heads up to DirecTv fans Versus is still off the air, so find a way to see this game because if it is as good as what the tournament has been so far then it will be an epic game.

The first half seemed like it was going to be a high scoring affair as UNLV was up 41-34, but then the defenses kicked in for the second half for both schools. The start of the game both schools were on fire and BYU’s Jimmer Fredette looked like he was going to have a repeat performance from last night as he scored BYU’s 10 of 19 points in six minutes. Then the Rebel defense took it to Fredette who managed only two free throws for the rest of the half. The Rebel defense combined with their offense was able to have a seven point lead at the half.

The end of the first half started the same as the second half as UNLV pulled ahead with a 51-42 lead midway through the half and were led behind their defense. The Rebels were using a press and were playing a physical style of defense to stop BYU’s explosive offense.

San Diego State looks to be off the bubble and squarely in the NCAA tournament after upsetting top seed New Mexico, 72-69. Even if the Aztecs do not win the tournament title tomorrow night against either BYU or UNLV they appear to be in the tournament. New Mexico was ranked in the top 10 in the human polls as well as the all important RPI, so this was a high quality win for San Diego State. The Aztecs ran out to an early 18-7 lead over New Mexico, and the game looked to be a blowout in favor of the Aztecs. Then New Mexico woke up to go on a 32-10 run to end the half with a one point lead.

The second half was a back and forth game with the big players stepping up on each side. Las Vegas native and San Diego State forward Billy White had a career high with 28 points to lead all scorers. Then there was freshman of the year Kawhi Leonard who stepped up big to finish with 15 points and 12 rebounds. The game looked to be over when the Aztecs were up 62-55 with just under seven minutes left in the second half, but then New Mexico’s Darrington Hobson and Ramon Martinez stepped it up to have a chance to win this game.

BYU freshman Tyler Haws played only 15 minutes in last nights win over TCU due to getting poked in the eye. This was a serious injury that his eye was swollen shut. Haws said this about his eye:

The shot to his eye was so severe that Haws’ contact lens was pushed behind his eyeball and trainers originally had trouble finding it. And his left was completely swollen shut.

Friday’s slate of Mountain West Tournament games

#1 New Mexico vs. #4 San Diego State, 9:00 PM ET on CBS College Sports

Utah tried to follow up the trend with the lower seeds giving the higher seeds a tough game, but they ran out of gas in the second half. The Utes made a good effort in the first half to stay with UNLV, even when the Rebels were out ahead by 13 Utah made a charge to close the gap. The score was 31-30 in favor of UNLV with 18:10 left in the second half when the Rebels went on a 18-3 run and never looked back. During this run Utah was unable to slow down the Rebel attack due to turnovers, offensive fouls, and unable to score on offense.

UNLV’s pressure defense caused havoc for the Utes all night. Forcing 15 turnovers and holding the overmatched Utes to a dismal 32 percent shooting. Tre’von Willis and Anthony Marshall led the balanced effort for UNLV with 13 points each. MWC Defensive Player of the Year, David Foster, had the biggest impact for the Utes with 6 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks. Carlon Brown also added 12 points.

Yet another game that saw the higher seed struggle early on this game. At the half TCU was able to lead the Cougars and keep that lead through five minutes of the second half. Then BYU’s Jimmer Fredette took over and scored 30 of his 45 points in the second half. This was BYU’s 29th win on the year which broke a school record that stood for 60 years.

The only other player to score in double figures for BYU was Jackson Emery who ended up with 15 points and seven boards. TCU’s performance was much better then their 30 point loss in the season finale last week, and they ended up having five players score in double figures. They were just unable to keep up with Jimmer Fredette.

The Mountain West tournament got off to a good start and if you were one of the many unproductive people able to watch the New Mexico and San Diego State games then you were one of the lucky ones. The Aztecs kept their NCAA tournament hopes alive with a 72-71 win over Colorado State. D.J. Gay made two free throws with 23 seconds left to give the Aztecs the one point lead that would stand for the rest of the game. This game was tight the whole way as the largest lead was ten by San Diego State and seven by Colorado State.

San Diego State is the more athletic team but they were settling for three point shots -- where they went one of ten -- instead of driving to the basketball to get to the line. When San Diego State did attack the hoop that is when they had their most success as they were 17-28.

New Mexico was just trying to doing their best to copy the Big East with an early exit as a favorite in today’s first quarterfinal in the Mountain West tournament. The Lobos were in a tussle the entire game against an Air Force team that had only 10 wins coming into the game. Air Force never lead by more then a point and that was very early in the game, but anytime when the Lobos seemed to put the game out of the reach the Falcons would get back within a few points.

Good thing conference player of the year Darrington Hobson and Dairese Gary showed up today, because these were the only two players to score in double digits. Hobbson lead all scorers with 28 points and 15 rebounds, while Gary ended up with 20 points for the Lobos.

This is the second year in a row that Air Force will advance out of the play-in game, and only their second Mountain West tournament win in school history. Coming into this game the Falcons were riding a nine game losing streak and it happens that their last win came against Wyoming.

Senior Grant Parker led the Falcons with 15 points on ten shots as Air Force used their traditional slow down style of play to limit the possessions. The Falcons played great team ball with 15 assists to just 9 turnovers, and then defensively they held Wyoming to 2 of 18 shooting from behind the arc. Air Force used a 9-0 run in the first half to get some breathing room and then a 12-0 run at the end of the game which sealed their victory. This game was never really in question for Air Force as they lead nearly the entire game.