San Diego State advances to title game, beats Colorado State 79-69
One of the few question marks about San Diego State’s ability to win a third straight Mountain West Conference tournament championship was whether the Aztecs had the depth to win three games in three days.
The Aztecs’ bench passed a semifinal test with flying colors on Friday, helping top-seeded San Diego State to a 79-69 victory over No. 4 Colorado State at the Thomas & Mack Center.
San Diego State (26-6) will play in the championship game for the fourth consecutive year when the Aztecs meet New Mexico (26-6) at 4 p.m. today.
Reserve DeShawn Stephens had four points, nine rebounds and three blocks in 21 minutes, and Garrett Green added 10 points and four rebounds in 24 minutes. The entire bench had two points and three rebounds in 33 minutes in Thursday’s quarterfinal win over Boise State.
“We don’t have a whole lot of guys. We only have nine on scholarship, and we’ve just been playing eight,” San Diego State coach Steve Fisher said. “The eight that played really performed.
“We got solid play off the bench, which is what you have to have and what you should have with Division I players that are good.”
It helps when you have a starting lineup as good as San Diego State’s. Jamaal Franklin, the conference player of the year, had 19 points and six rebounds. Chase Tapley added 17 points and six assists.
“It was a true team victory,” Fisher said. “We don’t win without DeShawn. Obviously, we don’t win without Jamaal and Chase. That’s what we’ve been all season.”
Colorado State (20-11) led 39-38 at halftime, largely on the strength of a 6-for-11 effort from 3-point range. The Rams hit only 2 of 11 after the break, however, and San Diego State used a 9-0 run early in the second half to pull away.
Franklin made a free throw, and James Rahon followed the miss on the second shot with a putback layup. Tapley then hit a 3-pointer, and Stephens blocked a shot leading to a Franklin 3-pointer in transition to cap the surge.
The Rams must wait until Sunday to find out their fate from the NCAA Tournament selection committee, two days that Colorado State coach Tim Miles said would be “really long.”
Miles declined to lobby the committee on why his team should be included in the field.
“We’ve made our case. We don’t pass the eye test, the smell test, the airport test. We don’t pass any test,” he said. “Put (us) on the floor and let these guys compete, and we’ll see. Yeah, we made our case.”
San Diego State almost assuredly is in the tournament regardless of whether it wins the automatic bid today.
Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj.
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