The 2023-24 Mountain West conference basketball season was arguably the most competitive league top to bottom in the last 20 years and it took exactly one game in the conference tournament to support that assertion.
#8 Wyoming vs #9 Fresno State
The Fresno State Bulldogs used a closing 12-1 run in the last three minutes to overcome the Wyoming Cowboys, securing a 77-73 upset victory in the opening game of Mountain West conference tournament play Wednesday at the Thomas and Mack Center on the campus of UNLV.
Fresno State guard Isaiah Pope had 23 points, and five players scored in double figures as the underdog Bulldogs shot 53% from the field and converted 22 of their 23 free throw attempts.
Fresno State will take on MW league champion and top-seed Utah State as action tips off in the quarterfinals Thursday at noon.
“So very proud of my guys for continuing to fight like the 6’5″ and under team out there,” said Fresno State head coach Justin Hutson. “They continued to fight and run and fight through turnovers that we’ve had and continue to play defense. So we deserved one of these.”
The Cowboys held a 40-33 lead at the half, built on 6-of-12 shooting from beyond the arc. But the Bulldogs shot 50% from the field to hang around at the break.
Pope had this to say when asked about facing a team that they lost to just a few days ago by 39 points: “At least for me, it could be my last game ever. So I just told the guys—I thought to myself if this is my last 40 minutes, I’m going to give it everything I have. And I think we all did that and stepped up.”
“We played defense,” Pope continued. “We made big shots. We got good free throws, made them. It’s basketball, baby. That’s the beauty of basketball. One day you lose by 39. One day you win by four. You know what I’m saying? You got to love it.”
Wyoming seemed to be in control late in the second half after a triple from Brendan Wenzel made the score 72-65 with 3:20 left to play. But the Cowboys would fail to make another field goal the rest of the way and turned the ball over twice down the stretch to aid in their demise.
The Cowboys led by double digits on several occasions and held the lead for over 32 minutes of game action, but Fresno State took advantage when the door opened late to move on.
Hutson was asked about who they’ll focus on when they take on the Aggies on Thursday.
“That whole team,” Hutson answered. “The ones on the bench, the coaches, everybody. They’ll be ready. So will we.”
#7 Colorado State vs #10 San Jose State
Colorado State assumed control of a tight game with a 16-6 run in the final five minutes to outlast a pesky San Jose State team 72-62 in the second game of the day.
Joel Scott led the Rams with 18 points, and Joel Palmer was 4-of-5 from deep to add 14 points off the bench.
CSU point guard Isaiah Stevens recognized Palmer’s role in the victory.
“Man, it’s exactly what we needed,” Stevens said. “We were struggling a little bit from some other areas, and Joe just came in just ready to compete, ready to fight, ready to do whatever the team needed. Honestly, we don’t get that win without his performance today.”
San Jose State couldn’t quite match the Rams down the stretch despite a stellar effort from Spartans point guard Alvaro Cardenas, who led SJSU with 18 points, nine rebounds, and added six assists.
The Rams came out a little shaky in their execution and decision-making, initially ignoring their decided size advantage inside and instead choosing shots on the perimeter and missing.
Colorado State head coach Niko Medved had an answer about why.
“You prepare, and all of a sudden when you walk into the arena here, conference tournament, you feel it right away,” he said. “It just feels different. Just the vibe, the intensity, the nerves start to come a little bit. It’s what makes it awesome.”
Cardenas’ three-pointer with 6:38 left in the first half gave the Spartans a 25-19 lead and Colorado State appeared a little unraveled. Medved immediately called a timeout to settle his squad down.
The Rams went to work, primarily in the paint along with a pair of key three-pointers in the sequence from Joe Palmer. Colorado State closed the half with a 15-4 run to take a 34-29 advantage to the locker room at the break.
The Spartans refused to go away though, and answered every Colorado State surge. A turnaround 16-footer from Cardenas as the shot clock expired with 4:51 left brought the Spartans even at 56-56 with the team that was once ranked #16 in the nation back in January.
But Medved again got the Rams refocused enough down the stretch to squelch SJSU’s upset bid with help from the patience of Stevens’ stewardship at the point. The win likely cemented their NCAA tournament berth after struggling a bit the last two months of the season.
Colorado State will take on #2 Nevada on Thursday at 6 p.m. in the third quarterfinal game of the day.
“It’s going to be ultra-competitive,” Stevens said of the matchup with Nevada. “They’ve got a lot of players over there that can make plays. Some really good shooters, some tough inside guys. We know it’s going to be a battle.”
#6 New Mexico vs #11 Air Force
The New Mexico Lobos likely need a pair of tournament wins to get into this year’s NCAA field. Wednesday afternoon they executed step one and got a little revenge on the team that handed them a surprise loss on their home court in late February, essentially putting their backs against the wall.
The Lobos showed no intention of messing around, running full-throttle from the opening tip with a dominating 82-56 win to move on and face #3 Boise State in Thursday’s final quarterfinal round game that tips at 8:30 p.m.
Co-MW Freshman of the Year J.T. Toppin led the Lobos with 18 points and completed a double-double with 11 boards. UNM pint guard Jaelen House added 16 points, and Donavan Dent chipped in with a game-high nine assists.
New Mexico head coach Richard Pitino summed it up succinctly. “Loved our energy, loved our toughness, plus 20 on the glass. Loved the way we shared the ball; 21 assists.”
“I thought overall it was about as complete a performance as we’ve had in a while,” Pitino added. “I know it was the largest margin of victory in the history for us in the Mountain West Tournament, which is great.”
Air Force forward Rytis Petraitis did all he could to keep the Falcons in the game, posting an impressive double-double with 26 points and 10 rebounds on 9-of-13 shooting, but he must have felt like a guy all alone in an F/A-18 surrounded by buzzing enemy bogies.
New Mexico made sure no one else had much success, doing an excellent job defensively on the perimeter. Aside from Petraitis, the rest of the team could only muster a 5-of-25 effort from deep, and three of those came with the game decided and the court full of reserves.
Dent was asked if the loss at the pit served as motivation.
“A couple of weeks ago they kind of hurt us a lot,” he said. “We didn’t come in prepared, and we took them for granted. This game we came in ready, prepared to do what we gotta do.”
Speed kills and it’s an oft-used cliché, but the Lobos quite literally ran the Falcons out of the building with a whopping 50 points coming in the paint, with a large number of those on layups.
They’ll likely find the going significantly tougher against a Boise State team firing on all cylinders entering the MW tournament.
Pitino shared his thoughts on facing a Boise State team that swept the Lobos in conference play, “Just be more tough. Be more physical. Provide more resistance. Do a better job on Stanley and Degenhart. They were too comfortable last game. Everybody has to be ready. We’ve put ourselves in a position to go do something special.”
