Mountain West Tournament - Semifinals

(4) San Diego State 72, (1) New Mexico 69

In last season's MWC Tournament, the fourth-seeded San Diego State Azetcs defeated the top-seeded BYU Cougars to seemingly move off the bubble and assure themselves a spot in the NCAA Tournament.  The following night the Aztecs lost a close championship game to Utah. The following day the Aztecs were left out of the Big Dance. Fast forward one calendar year, and the Aztecs found themselves in a similar situation. Following a Friday night thriller, the first stage has followed suit in 2010. Fourth-seeded San Diego State reached into the 2009 time machine, defeating top-seeded New Mexico in a tremendous basketball game at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.

The Aztecs jumped out to a quick 11-0 lead and were able to hold off the 8th-ranked Lobos on the shoulders of forward Billy White's 28 points. San Diego State shot a scorching 56 % from the field in the first half, including its first four 3-pointers. The first half was filled with an extremely fast pace of play that did not let up the entire 40 minutes.

Coming off a monster quarterfinal performance, Mountain West Conference Player of the Year Darington Hobson again filled up the stat sheet (15 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists) for New Mexico but did not have the same affect on the action as he did Thursday. This semifinal showdown seemingly went back and forth between every media timeout. The action only stopped when the final buzzer sounded.

Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year Kawhi Leonard - a key cog in the SDSU attack - shook off a poor performance against Colorado State, scoring 15 points and bringing down 12 rebounds against New Mexico. Aztec guard D.J. Gay played the entire 40 minutes and managed the game tremendously. Gay finished with 7 assists and 0 turnovers.

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The Thomas and Mack Center was shaking on its foundations for much of the evening with the partisan New Mexico crowd making a lot of noise. Thousands upon thousands of Lobo fans made the trip to Las Vegas only to go home with only one conference tournament victory. 

The noise in the arena was very important down the stretch. With just over two and a half minutes left in the game, Lobo forward A.J. Hardeman followed a New Mexico miss with a put back layup to give the Lobos a two-point lead, 64-62. Replays showed that the ball did not leave Hardeman's hands before the shot clock expired. San Diego State head coach Steve Fisher called a timeout to protest and the officials went to the monitor to look at the replay. Shockingly, the call stood and it seemed as though SDSU's luck had run out. However, the Aztecs responded with a quick 5-0 run and were able to hold off New Mexico's Dariese Gary's final layup attempt - which missed to the left - to seal the victory.

San Diego State ended New Mexico's fifteen-game winning streak and has now dealt the Lobos half of their four total losses. The Aztecs, who were securely on the bubble before the game, can only hope they have done enough to guarantee access to the Big Dance. From past experience, they should know better. Beating the top seed in the MWC semis is good; winning the entire tournament is great.

WHAT’S NEXT

The Aztecs have a difficult task ahead of them in the MWC Championship Game as they will be faced with a de facto road game against host UNLV.  The Rebels used their home court and crowd to down second-seeded BYU in the MWC semifinal nightcap. The two teams split the season series with each winning on their home floor by 10 points.

By: Zach Bloxham
DFN Sports Guest Writers