Rapid Recap: Day 2 of the 2023-24 Mountain West Tournament

We had a loaded four-game slate Thursday in the Mountain West men’s basketball quarterfinal round! Let’s recap it!

(9) Fresno State v. (1) Utah State:

Death, taxes and Utah State finding ways to win close games.

In another overtime showdown between the No. 1 Utah State Aggies and No. 9 Fresno State, the Aggies were, once again, able to outlast Fresno State 87-75.

The two teams had an overtime bout on Feb. 27, which saw a 77-73 Aggies victory inside Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif. Despite Fresno facing multiple near-double-digit deficits Thursday, save for a Darius Brown II 27-foot banked-in buzzer-beater, history repeated itself at the end of regulation.

But Utah State didn’t just win the overtime period, it dominated. USU outscored its counterpart 17-5, holding Fresno State without a field goal for the first 4:10 of the frame. Thursday’s win marked its third overtime win of the season—all of which have come in conference play away from home.

Aggie freshman Mason Falslev did not play in the contest due to a shoulder injury, but that did not slow the Aggie train down.

It was led by Great Osobor, who tallied 29 points—on just eight shots (!!!), despite going 15-of-24 from the charity stripe—with a season-high 17 rebounds and four assists. Brown II tallied 17 points with 11 assists while Javon Jackson had a career-high 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting with five rebounds. USU finished a plus-five on the glass, a plus-14 in points-off-turnovers and a plus-15 from the free-throw line, which made the ultimate difference.

Jalen Weaver posted a season-high 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting in 37 minutes off the bench, in addition to hauling in eight rebounds. Isaiah Hill had a much better showing than he did Wednesday, finishing with 17 points with team-highs in both rebounds (10) and assists (10).

Isaiah Pope posted 12 points, but fouled out down the stretch for the second consecutive day. In his second game back from injury, Donovan Yap had 10 points, three rebounds and a pair of assists.

Both teams started sloppy offensively with 12 combined field goals, 11 combined fouls and 11 turnovers across the game’s first 10 minutes. Pope’s wing triple capped off a 12-0 Fresno State run that gave them the 20-16 lead with 8:30 remaining in the first half.

Picking up three fouls in less than eight minutes of game time, the Bulldogs were without starting big Enoch Boakye for all but three minutes of the opening half. Though they were able to weather the storm with their switchability and additional spacing—similar to Wednesday’s opener.

Weaver’s jumper gave them a 28-22 advantage with 5:04 left before halftime. Even though they did not have a field goal over the final 3:47, Fresno State entered halftime with a 36-35 lead, shooting 37.5 percent from the floor and 35.4 percent from 3-point range.

Osobor had a dominant first half (16 PTS, 7 REB, 4-4 FG), though the Aggies missed all seven of their 3-point attempts while shooting 44.7 percent.

Osobor continued establishing deep post positioning and operated with force inside 10 feet to open the second half. Brown’s deep triple to beat the shot clock gave Utah State the 51-42 advantage.

Fresno State wasn’t finished yet, however. Pope’s stepback 3-pointer knotted it back up at 57, though back-to-back Utah State triples widened the lead back to eight with 4:45 left. USU missed its final seven shots of regulation (plus two free throws), while Hill and DuSell mounted the comeback that tied it at 70.

The script flipped in overtime; Utah State made three of its five field goal attempts, but got the free-throw line 12 times (10 makes) while Fresno didn’t draw a single foul, missing five of their seven.

It was a wire-to-wire domination over the final five minutes for the Aggies, who imposed their will to secure their quarterfinal win.

(5) San Diego State v. (4) UNLV:

Another game, another overtime contest—this time between UNLV and San Diego State, who battled it out less than two weeks ago inside Thomas & Mack Center in one of the most competitive MW games this season.

This time, Jaedon LeDee and the Aztecs squeaked past the Rebels 74-71. UNLV was led by the MW co-Freshman of the Year Dedan Thomas Jr., who finished with a career-high 29 points on 10-of-21 shooting with five assists.

LeDee recorded 34 points on 11-of-21 shooting—despite missing seven free throws (11-18)—with 16 rebounds, one steal and two blocks. Lamont Butler had 12 points; Darrion Trammell finished with 11 points, five rebounds plus five steals while Jay Pal posted 10 points and nine boards in 28 minutes.

UNLV’s Keylan Boone had 17 points with eight rebounds and four blocks while Justin Webster had 14 points on 3-of-5 shooting from 3-point range.

Thomas tallied UNLV’s first eight points through eight minutes, but both teams had a very difficult time generating consistent half-court offense. Webster’s third triple gave UNLV the 19-16 lead with under three minutes left in the half.

Neither team shot the ball efficiently. An end-of-half blunder by UNLV led to SDSU’s first made 3 of the game (nine attempts), going 9-of-33 in the first half while UNLV shot just 7-of-21 (33.3 percent). UNLV led 27-22 at the break after leading by 10 with a minute remaining.

SDSU found a rhythm to begin the second half while UNLV missed six of its first eight attempts. Butler’s driving layup followed by Pal’s wide-open one-handed slam in transition gave the Aztecs a four-point—38-34—advantage just 4:53 into the second half, prompting a Rebel timeout.

LeDee dominated for much of the second half; his spot-up 3-pointer put the Aztecs ahead 50-41 with 9:28 left, their biggest lead up to that point.

Though his reign did not last for the entirety of regulation, as UNLV’s applied pressure made it difficult for the Aztec guards to find their first-team All-MWC forward. The Aztecs went nearly four minutes (6:33 to 2:52) without a made bucket, allowing Thomas and Boone to get UNLV back in the race.

Thomas’ floater followed by his spinning finish tied it at 65 with 0.5 seconds left, forcing overtime. The Rebels held SDSU scoreless for the first 2:17 minutes of OT, but LeDee eventually sunk the game-winning runner while sinking five crucial free throws over the final three minutes to secure the win for SDSU.

SDSU, last year’s MW Tournament champs, will now take on top-seeded Utah State Friday at 9:30 p.m. EST!

(7) Colorado State v. (2) Nevada:

In a very physical, albeit whistle-heavy game that featured 50 combined fouls and 67 combined free throw attempts, Colorado State fought off the Nevada Wolf Pack Thursday evening 85-78.

The Rams, who showed to be the more physical team that made the important plays when the final buzzer, quieted any (potential) bubble noise with this quarterfinal win, even though most projections had them as a top-9 seed entering the contest.

The Wolf Pack already had their tournament chances solidified entering Thursday and could likely be a top-7 seed if the tournament started tomorrow, but we obviously won’t know more with the less than 48 hours until selection Sunday.

Colorado State was led by all-conference guard Isaiah Stevens, who had 15 points with seven assists on 5-of-11 shooting. Nique Clifford posted a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double, adding five assists and hitting five of his eight field goal attempts.

Jalen Lake and Joe Palmer were huge off the Ram bench, adding 16 and 12 points, respectively; Lake knocked down five of his six attempts (3-3 FG) while Palmer went 4-for-7 from the floor.

Nevada’s Jarod Lucas tallied a team-high 18 points on 5-of-12 shooting; Kenan Blackshear posted 16 points, four rebounds and six assists on 6-of-9 shooting; Tylan Pope was the team’s only other double-figure scorer with 10 points and six rebounds.

The Wolf Pack battled foul trouble for much of the first half, including Coleman, Nick Davidson (who fouled out with 2:16 left), Blackshear and K.J. Hymes, among others.

Colorado State capped off an 11-0 run with a Joe Palmer layup, taking an early 12-5. The 11-0 run lasted for a 5:18 stretch before Jarod Lucas hit a 30-plus-foot 3-pointer.

The Rams exerted more physicality than their counterpart, staying connected around screens, swarming rebounds and pressuring the rock up the floor. The Wolf Pack had six turnovers to just one assist (on four baskets) through the first 11:06.

Six Wolf Pack players had two fouls with over four minutes left before halftime, which gave extended roles to Pope, Jeriah Coleman and Rolison. Back-to-back Jalen Lake triples put Colorado State ahead 41-26 with a minute left until the break.

It went into halftime ahead 43-33, shooting 53.8 percent from the floor and 4-of-11 from 3-point range (three from Lake). Nevada shot just 38.1 percent and 2-of-6 from distance, though it got to the free-throw line a remarkable 18 times, where it scored 15 of their 33 points.

A quick outburst from Blackshear, Coleman and Davidson quickly trimmed the deficit to two, but a pair of baskets from Strong plus Joel Scott’s semi-transition finish re-upped the advantage to double figures with 15:23 left.

After trailing by as much as 16, Pope’s wide-open lay-in in semi-transition trimmed the deficit to five with 5:15 left, capping off a 12-4 with six straight makes. Though Colorado State secured multiple key offensive rebounds down the stretch that resulted in back-breaking baskets.

(6) New Mexico v. (3) Boise State:

Donovan Dent and Jaelen House led the charge and potentially saved New Mexico’s NCAA Tournament at-large chances Thursday against Boise State.

Scoring 32 of their combined 51 points in the second half, they led the Lobos to a 73-66 victory over the 3-seeded Broncos, advancing to the semifinals of the Mountain West Tournament.

From the opening tip, Dent lit the spark for New Mexico on both ends while House closed by scoring or assisting on 16 of UNM’s final 22 points. Dent finished with 22 points and four assists on 8-of-9 shooting.

House tallied a season-high 29 points on 10-of-21 shooting and 8-of-10 from the free-throw line, capped by nearly finishing a thunderous dunk in transition (where tempers almost flared with Roddie Anderson). Neither team shot the ball: New Mexico shot just 43.8 percent to Boise’s 29.4 percent, with both teams shooting below 30.0 percent from distance.

Tyson Degenhart tried to lead the charge for Boise State, tallying 23 points on 7-of-20 shooting with 12 boards. Max Rice had 13 points; Chibuzo Agbo added 11 points on 3-of-7 from deep while Anderson had 10 points with three rebounds.

Dent’s floater gave the Lobos a nine-point lead with under six minutes remaining in the first half. Both teams traded buckets exiting halftime, though Boise began to slowly trim a once-11-point deficit down to four. Dent was ultimately too much for the Broncos, scoring eight consecutive points to put the lead back to 12 with 12:14 left.

Boise continued battling back—led by Degenhart—but could not trim the deficit below six until there were less than two minutes left. By then, the effort was too little, too late.

New Mexico will take on Colorado State Friday evening at midnight EST!

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This is a developing story. Stay tuned for updates.