LAS VEGAS (AP) — Tyson Degenhart scored 13 points to help Boise State defeat San Diego State 53-52 on Saturday to win the Mountain West Tournament and earn the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The Aztecs had the ball with 28 seconds left, but Matt Bradley and Trey Pulliam both missed shots as time wound down.
Abu Kigab added 11 points and Emmanuel Akot added 10 for the Broncos (27-7), who became just the fifth team in Mountain West history to win an outright regular-season conference championship and the league’s postseason tournament. Boise State entered the tourney coming off their first outright regular-season conference title in more than three decades.
San Diego State (23-8) was led by Bradley, who finished with 17 points and seven rebounds. Lamont Butler finished with 16 points for the Aztecs.
Boise State was playing in its first conference tournament championship game as members of the Mountain West. The last time the Broncos played in a conference tournament title game was in 2011 when Boise State was a part of the Western Athletic Conference.
It was the sixth conference tournament championship in the history of Boise State's program.
Trailing by three at halftime, the Aztecs opened the second half with a quick five points to take a 30-28 lead. But the Broncos ended San Diego State’s mini-run and the teams began trading buckets while trading the lead seven times before Boise State took the lead with 6:41 left in the game and never looked back.
The Broncos wasted no time in coming out firing, as three of their first four field goals were from 3-point range, including a pair from Degenhart. Though Boise State shot just 34.8% from the field over the first 20 minutes, it was a 40% (4 of 10) clip from 3-point range that helped them to a 28-25 halftime lead.
The defensive-minded Aztecs wouldn’t normally mind a physical matchup considering their style of play, but the Broncos met the challenge by sizing up San Diego State’s bigs in the paint and creating havoc on the perimeter. The Aztecs struggled to 28.6% (10 of 35) shooting from the floor and was just 2 of 8 (25%) from 3-point range.
Neither team showed any poise from the free-throw line, combining to shoot 11 of 24 (45.8%).
BIG PICTURE
San Diego State, which has won the event a record six times, was in the final for the fifth straight season. The Aztecs have played for the tournament title in eight of the last nine years and in 12 of the last 14 seasons.
Boise State’s 27 total victories this season are a program record and their résumé could nab a top-seven seed in the NCAA Tournament. As of Saturday, the Broncos were 29th in the NET rankings. The Broncos have been to two NCAA Tournaments (2013 and 2015) during the Leon Rice era, earning the only two at-large bids in school history.
UP NEXT
San Diego State: Awaits word on a possible at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament.
Boise State: Will play in the NCAA Tournament.
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