Rapid Recap: Day 1 of the 2023-24 Mountain West Tournament

It not have featured the conference’s best of the best, but the 2023-24 Mountain West men’s basketball tournament tipped off Wednesday with a bang! Let’s recap the three games in action from Wednesday’s slate!

(9) Fresno State v. (8) Wyoming:

Just four days after getting blasted by 39 points at home to Wyoming, Fresno State completed a comeback victory against the Pokes to open the Mountain West men’s basketball tournament!

Wyoming led by seven points with 3:20 left; two crucial Isaiah Hill baskets—his only two of the game—followed by Donovan Yap’s floater to reward it a 73-72 lead with 1:11 to go. Wyoming’s Kael Combs split a pair of free throws, but Leo Colimerio’s second-chance layup re-gave Fresno State the two-point advantage with 21 seconds left.

Excellent team defense, specifically from guards Isaiah Hill—who played with four fouls the final 9:50—Xavier DuSell and Jalen Weaver forced a Bulldog steal with four seconds left. Weaver’s two free throws put the game out of reach for Wyoming, who did not convert on a single field goal attempt over the final 3:20.

Isaiah Pope was the Bulldogs’ best player today, leading them in scoring, with 22 points on 7-of-14 shooting with five rebounds and two assists. He fouled out with 4:28 left, but the Bulldogs kept with their small-ball approach that spurred their second-half surge with Colimerio at the 5.

Fresno State’s spacing and offensive process wasn’t always the cleanest (specifically in the first half), but it shot 53.2 percent and 5-of-15 from 3-point range. DuSell finished with 11 points, while Colimerio and Weaver finished with 10 apiece.

Wyoming, who shot 41.1 percent and 12-of-26 (46.2 percent) from deep, were led by Akuel Kot, Sam Griffin and Brendan Wenzel. Kot finished with 23 points and four rebounds on 8-of-15 shooting and 4-of-8 from 3-point range. Griffin had 19 points with six assists on 6-of-15 shooting, while Wenzel had 15 points on 5-of-14 shooting and 3-of-8 from deep.

Griffin’s floater put Wyoming ahead 19-13 early in the opening first half. The lead ballooned to eight—32-24—less than four minutes after he scored two consecutive buckets in semi-transition.

Wyoming entered halftime with a 40-33 advantage, shooting 13-of-27 from the floor and 6-of-12 from 3-point range. Fresno State shot 13-of-26, but was not as efficient from distance, knocking down only four of its 11 3-point attempts. Kot and Griffin had 27 of Wyoming’s 40 first-half points.

Fresno State’s small-ball lineup (without Boakye) gave the Pokes trouble exiting the break, cutting the lead to one 4:18 into the half that prompted a Jeff Linder timeout. A pair of Yap free throws gave Fresno State its first lead of the half, but Griffin’s spot-up triple re-gave Wyoming the lead.

Isaiah Pope’s remarkable three-point play made it a 52-50 Fresno State lead with 10:39 left. Both teams continued trading buckets, but a 10-0 Wyoming run gave it a 67-58 with under six minutes remaining that almost took the wind out of Fresno State’s sails.

But it didn’t. Hill’s first two baskets did not come until late, including a steal-and-score to trim the lead to one. Fresno capped off a 12-1 run with a spectacular, high-octane defense that helped it snap a seven-game losing streak.

(10) San Jose State v. (7) Colorado State:

Colorado State fended off a feisty San Jose State squad Wednesday in their Mountain West tournament opener, securing the 72-62 victory.

Both teams were within two possessions of each other for the majority of Wednesday’s contest. The Rams led by just two with under two minutes left, courtesy of MJ Amey’s triple, but back-to-back baskets from guards Jalen Lake and Nique Clifford soon followed by a full-court dime from Clifford to Josiah Strong extended its advantage to eight—more than enough to avoid the catastrophic upset.

Neither team shot particularly well from 3-point range: CSU knocked down just six of its 19 attempts, while SJSU went 5-of-21. CSU’s efficiency inside the arc plus timely outbursts from Joe Palmer, Joel Scott and Isaiah Stevens made the ultimate difference.

Palmer finished with 14 points on 4-of-5 shooting from 3-point range; Joel Scott had 18 points, six rebounds and two assists on 6-of-7 shooting; Isaiah Stevens posted an 11-point, 10-assist double-double, his fifth of the season.

SJSU, who began displaying more pep in its step, shot 43.9 percent from the floor and was led by its dynamic guard duo of Amey and Alvaro Cardenas. Amey had 17 points on 7-of-20 shooting, while Cardenas had 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting with team highs in both rebounds (9) and assists (6).

Cardenas nifty layup over Joel Scott followed by Amey’s three-point play over Taviontae Jackson gave SJSU the 22-19 lead with 8:08 left in the first half. Cardenas’ corner triple with 6:35 left put them up six and forced a Rams timeout.

Though the Rams exploded on a 15-0 run over the subsequent five minutes—turning up the activity defensively while Stevens helped pick the Spartans apart offensively—quickly earning a 34-25 advantage.

Colorado State entered halftime up 34-29, shooting 51.7 percent from the floor. San Jose State shot 46.2 percent, though it only shot 1-of-9 from deep.

Neither offense could get going to open the second half. Gorener’s wing triple tied the contest at 38 with under 14 minutes left, though every time SJSU attempted to put together a run, Palmer responded for Colorado State.

Colorado State eventually blew the gates open after Amey trimmed it to two, handing Colorado State a much-needed victory after it ended the regular season playing below expectation. It did in this game, too, but lives to see another day, as it will face red-hot Nevada at 6 p.m. PST Thursday in hopes of improving its seeding ahead of Selection Sunday.

(11) Air Force v. (6) New Mexico:

While the other two contests were barn burners, this one wasn’t so close.

Nearly two months after the Air Force Falcons bested the New Mexico Lobos inside “The Pit,” New Mexico invoked its revenge.

A dominant first half fueled an 82-56 Lobos victory Wednesday evening, propelling UNM to the second round of the Mountain West tournament that it desperately needs to do well in for its NCAA Tournament chances.

Both teams opened the contest with good energy, but New Mexico’s relentless aggression on both ends quickly blew the contest open and it didn’t look back. Jaelen House—who played less than 30 minutes in both of his two meetings against AFA this season, including just 20 in their loss—led the attack, finishing with 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting with three assists and three steals across 25 minutes.

New Mexico doubled Air Force in paint points (50-24) with 44 points on layups alone, per the MW Tracking data. Jamal Mashburn Jr., who missed Saturday’s game due to illness, returned Wednesday. He had 10 points on 3-of-5 shooting in 19 minutes. Tru Washington posted 11 points with three rebounds on 5-of-8 shooting.

JT Toppin finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds on 8-of-12 shooting from the floor, his 11th double-double of the season. Collectively, the Lobos knocked down 47.1 percent of its attempts and 6-of-21 from 3-point range.

Rytis Petraitis was Air Force’s only double-figure scorer, scoring 26 of their 56 points, adding 10 boards and shooting 9-of-13 from the floor, 2-of-3 from distance and 6-of-7 from the charity stripe. Falcon players not named Petraitis shot just 29.7 percent (11-37) on the evening and 20.0 percent from 3-point range.

Baker’s corner 3-pointer extended New Mexico’s advantage to 41-26 with 3:21 to go in the first half. Jaelen House’s buzzer-beating triple put the Lobos ahead 49-30 entering halftime.

New Mexico shot 51.4 percent and 4-of-11 (36.4 percent) from 3-point range, dominating the battle on the glass (21-12; plus nine) with seven fewer turnovers (11-4) and four fewer live-ball TOs (7-3).

New Mexico picked up right where they left off in the second half and the lead never fell below 20 points. Tru Washington’s emphatic slam in transition made it a 31-point game with 7:10 left.

This contest was all New Mexico’s from wire-to-wire; it led by 35 with less than six minutes left before taking its foot slightly off the gas. They will face No. 3 Boise State Thursday at midnight EST!

This is a developing story. Stay tuned for updates.