March 9, 2006
DENVER -
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San Diego State (22-8 overall; 13-3 MWC) looks to match its Division I record for victories in a season when it meets fourth-seeded UNLV (17-12; 10-6 MWC) in the semifinal round of the Mountain West Conference Tournament on Friday in Denver at Pepsi Center. Game time is set for 7:04 p.m. MST (6:04 p.m. PST). The game will be televised by ESPN+Plus (Channel 4 San Diego).
The Aztecs, which are the top seed in a conference tournament for the first time in their 36-year Division I history, opened the championships in style with a 64-52 victory over Colorado State in the first quarterfinal game on Thursday.
San Diego State matched a season low with seven turnovers and grabbed a season-high 24 offensive rebounds en route to the 12-point victory. The Aztecs never trailed in the contest, leading for 38:54 of the game. SDSU held a 21-5 advantage in points scored off turnovers.
Junior forward Marcus Slaughter scored 17 points and set an MWC tournament record with 17 rebounds. It was the 27th double-double of his career and marked the sixth time this season he has gathered at least 15 rebounds in a game. Junior guard Brandon Heath added 16 points, while junior forward Mohamed Abukar tallied 13 points.
Of the 64 points SDSU scored on Thursday, 61 were scored by non-seniors (95.3 percent). Non-seniors accounted for 174 of the 200 minutes played (87.0 percent).
UNLV advanced to the semifinals after overcoming a 13-point second-half deficit, defeating New Mexico 65-64.
The Aztecs and Rebels will be meeting for the 39th time with UNLV owning a 28-10 series lead. This season, the Aztecs swept the regular-season series for the first time in school history, winning 83-67 in San Diego on Jan. 14 and 81-70 in Las Vegas on Feb. 16. This marks the only time in the previous 38 meetings that SDSU has defeated the Rebels in consecutive meetings.
As hard as it may be to believe, the teams are meeting for the fourth time in the last seven postseasons. The teams have met six previous times in the postseason (three NCAA tournamnets and three conference tournaments), with the Rebels winning four of those six postseason encounters.
San Diego State is looking to advance to its second Mountain West Conference tournament final (the Aztecs defeated UNLV to claim the championship in 2002).