The second-seeded New Mexico Lobos received quite a scare from the Boise State Broncos but were able to prevail with a 70-67 win Friday night in the semifinal of the Mountain West Tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. The Lobos advance to face the top-seeded San Diego State Aztecs on Saturday night for the conference tournament title.
Mountain West Tournament 2014 bracket: San Diego State, New Mexico advance to final
The top seed faces the second seed in a game that everyone predicted would happen.
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Despite getting jumped on early by fourth-seeded UNLV, the No. 1 Aztecs were able to pull out a win to put themselves in the championship game of the Mountain West Tournament. It was an offensive struggle, with the Aztecs shooting 36 percent from the floor. A career-high (against Division-I competition) 18 points from Dwayne Polee II helped push the Aztecs through the semis.
The two teams split their matchups this season, with the home team grabbing the win in both occasions. New Mexico senior forward Cameron Bairstow shined when the teams matched up, averaging 23 points and eight rebounds while shooting 18-of-27 in the two games.
Bairstow led the Lobos in scoring for the season, averaging more than 20 points while pulling down 7.6 rebounds per game. Leading the way for the Aztecs in scoring is do-it-all senior guard Xavier Thames. Thames also averages over three rebounds and assists per game while also leading the conference in steals.
The game doesn’t figure to be a barnburner, as it pits the two best defenses in the conference against each other. San Diego State has a defensive efficiency rating of 92.7, by far the best in the MWC. The only other team under a 103 rating is New Mexico, at 98.1.
In offensive efficiency, New Mexico holds the edge with the best offense in the conference, but San Diego State’s offense isn’t anything to sneeze at. SDSU is tied for third in the MWC in points per possession with 1.08. The Lobos are at 1.13.
Offensively is where the Aztecs struggled in their game Friday night against UNLV. It took a career-high 18 points from Dwayne Polee II off the bench (excluding a 118-35 victory over St. Katherine’s in which Polee scored 19) for SDSU to escape the Rebels grasp.
Championship game Saturday:
No. 1 San Diego State vs. No. 2 New Mexico 6 p.m. ET, CBS
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