LAS VEGAS It wasn’t exactly the greatest Mountain West Conference basketball game ever played between San Diego State and UNLV, but the Aztecs didn’t care, nor should they.
SDSU is the 2010 MWC tournament champions. And rightfully so.
SDSU outlasted poor-shooting UNLV in the championship game on Saturday at the Thomas & Mack Center, 55-45.
“We had a 10-point lead on these guys with 35 seconds to go,” Fisher said. “And I am saying, ‘Get that clock down, and let’s get this over with, so we know we’re in (the NCAA Tournament).’ But I felt a great pride for our university, and in particular, to the men’s basketball team and our athletic program. We’ve learned to savor the moment and not get so caught up in what’s next. If you don’t do that, you don’t last.”
After a tight-knit, semifinal victory over UNM on Friday, SDSU found itself opposite UNLV on its home floor.
The Las Vegas crowd had an effect on the Aztecs’ ability to hit a shot.
Unfortunately for the Rebels, they shared the same discomfort.
Both teams went scoreless in the first four minutes of the game. The Aztecs and Rebels felt tense with the pressure of a conference title and a NCAA tournament bid up for grabs.
Both teams missed nine straight shots until the 15:52 mark, when SDSU guard Kelvin Davis ended the streak at 10 field goal attempts.
“Credit San Diego State,” said UNLV head coach Lon Kruger. “They did things better than we did. I thought they dictated really throughout, especially late, had a little bit of an opportunity there in the second half. I thought San Diego State made some good plays and shots to get back into it.”
SDSU point guard D.J. Gay said the Aztecs shot poorly throughout the tournament.
It might have been a tough 115 minutes of basketball over three days for Gay, but he hit the biggest shot of the game, and, maybe, the entire MWC tournament.
With 5:33 left in the game, and the Aztecs clinging on to a three-point lead, Gay doubled SDSU’s advantage with a trey ball.
“Coach Fisher pulled me aside in a timeout and said, ‘D.J., I need you to hit a three for me and I need you to carry us to this victory,’” Gay said. “The opportunity came and the play was called for me. I saw an opening and just took the shot.”
It just wasn’t Gay’s 3-pointer that sealed the Rebels’ doom.
UNLV failed to hit a shot in the last seven minutes of the entire game and shot a measly 32.7 percent from the field in the entire game.
UNLV guard Kendall Wallace said San Diego State controlled the game’s tempo the entire way.
“They were playing real hard defensively,” Kendall said. “That length was giving us problems inside, getting in there and getting good looks inside. We weren’t able to finish because of those long arms down there.”
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