Mountain West Tournament - Championship

(4) San Diego State 55, (3) UNLV 45

Finally, Steve Fisher’s Aztecs can be sure of one thing: they are going to the NCAA Tournament.  San Diego State survived a rough, sloppy game to claim the Mountain West Conference Tournament championship Saturday in Las Vegas, as they downed UNLV, 55-45.

Kawhi Leonard proved he was worthy of the Mountain West Freshman of the Year award, as he led the Aztecs with 16 points and 21 rebounds.  With the game in the balance, Leonard also drained 6 of 6 free throws down the stretch.

The game started in ugly fashion as neither team scored for the first four minutes.  San Diego State missed its first seven shots, and UNLV missed on its first six.  After the first TV timeout, the Aztecs held a 2-1 lead.

Things were so rough that UNLV’s first field goal finally came almost seven minutes in when Oscar Bellfield banged home a 17-foot bank shot that was nearly straight away at the top of the key.

Going almost unnoticed, Leonard was key as San Diego State secured a 25-22 halftime lead.  With UNLV shooting 32 % in the first half, Leonard had cleaned up the glass with 13 rebounds in the first 20 minutes.  The Aztecs only managed a 36 % clip on their field goal attempts.

Similar to last night’s win against BYU, the Rebels applied a pressure-packed defensive game plan and designed it for one person.  Last night, UNLV applied the heat on BYU star Jimmer Fredette by denying him the ball and getting right up in his face. This time, the plan was aimed at San Diego State guard D.J. Gay.  With Gay having played 99 of the last 100 minutes of game time for the Aztecs, UNLV began hounding Gay with full-court pressure with about 10 minutes to go in the first half, seemingly trying to wear him down.  With about 14 minutes to play in the game, it looked like the plan was working.

> Check out a great selection of San Diego State Aztecs apparel & be sure to follow the entire 2010 MWC Basketball Tournament online through MWC-fans.com!

After Chace Stanback tied the game at 30-30 for UNLV with a deep two-pointer, the Rebels caused two straight turnovers which resulted in an Anthony Marshall free throw and a Kendall Wallace three pointer.  With a 34-30 lead, it appeared that the constant pressure and loud Vegas crowd was wearing the Aztecs out.

It was then that Gay found life and began to shoot San Diego State back into the game, as he nailed a three on the next possession.  Four minutes later, Gay hit on another three to regain the lead for the Aztecs at 39-38.

UNLV continued to cause turnovers, but could not capitalize.  Another four minutes later, Gay dropped down another three pointer, and the Aztecs held a 46-40 lead with just over five minutes remaining.

After Leonard hit two free throws, San Diego State was then up 48-42.  The Rebels had a chance to stay in the game with some good passing in the post at the 1:40 mark, but when UNLV’s Marshall rose up for the put-in, he was met by Aztec forward Malcolm Thomas who denied him at the rim.  Leonard was then put on the free throw line four more times, and he calmly drained all four to put the game away.

After the game, the all-tournament team was announced.  The team was headlined by MVP Kawhi Leonard after his monster performance in this game, and BYU guard Jimmer Fredette, who scored 75 points in two games and went 35-of-36 from the free throw line.  Leonard and Fredette were joined by Aztec forward Billy White, Rebels Chace Stanback and guard Tre’Von Willis, and New Mexico star Darington Hobson.

By: Brett Hein
DFN Sports Guest Writer