The New Mexico State Aggies and Texas-Arlington Mavericks will battle for the WAC Tournament championship on Saturday in an attempt to capture the retooled league's automatic NCAA Tournament bid.
WAC Tournament 2013 Championship: New Mexico State vies for repeat against newcomer Texas-Arlington
New Mexico State and Texas-Arlington were helped to the WAC Tournament final by some upsets along the way.
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Both teams had easier-than-expected paths to the final round. In its debut season in the conference, Texas-Arlington knocked off the Utah State Aggies in the quarterfinals, then routed the UTSA Roadrunners, which upset the top-seeded Louisiana Tech Bulldogs. Meanwhile, New Mexico State, which won the tournament a year ago, took care of business against the Idaho Vandals and Texas State Bobcats, which took out the second-seeded Denver Pioneers on Thursday.
The Aggies and Mavericks split the two games they played this season. Texas-Arlington routed New Mexico State, 68-47, in its first-ever WAC game on Dec. 29. Kevin Butler led the Mavericks with 18 points. Butler also led UTA in scoring when the two teams met again on March 9, finishing with 14 points in his team's 69-66 loss to the Aggies in Las Cruces, N.M. New Mexico State's Bandja Sy led all scorers with 19 points in that game.
Game time, TV: 11 p.m. ET, ESPNU and WatchESPN
Location: Orleans Arena, Las Vegas, Nev.
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