March 14, 2015
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By Mick McGrane (@MickOnTheMesa)
LAS VEGAS --- San Diego State doesn't necessarily dabble in artistry, doesn't weaken your knees in wonderment or leave you oohing in awe.
Which doesn't mean the Aztecs aren't capable of taking your breath away. Or your spirit or your will or your desire or any last loose ball you foolishly may have considered claiming.
This isn't about elegance. In March, floor burns are brandished as medals of honor.
Second-seeded SDSU, whose refusal to budge on the defensive end is making it thornier than a thicket of briars, applied another sleeper hold Thursday night, grinding down No.3 seed Colorado State 56-43 in the semifinals of the Mountain West Tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
The win vaulted the Aztecs (26-7) into Saturday afternoon's championship game against No.4 seed Wyoming (24-9), which ambushed top-seeded Boise State 71-66 in overtime in Friday's other semifinal.
San Diego State, which is making a league-record-tying eighth appearance in the title game, is bidding for its fifth MW crown and its first since 2011. And while Colorado State was without first-team all-league forward J.J. Avila, who averaged 26.2 points against SDSU during the regular season, the Aztecs could hardly be faulted for failing to summon compassion in their quest for their sixth title game appearance in seven years.
"If you take JJ O'Brien off our team, how would we be? We'd be different, a lot different," SDSU coach Steve Fisher said of the absence of Avila, who injured his left ankle in the Rams' quarterfinal win over Fresno State on Thursday. "The ball goes through (our) JJ a lot. The ball goes through their J.J. a lot. He creates so many problems for you at both ends of the floor. So there's no question that it was a huge difference in the game."
So was this: Colorado State, which entered the contest as the top offensive team in the league with an average of 73 points a game, had 18 through the first 20 minutes. Despite the loss of Avila late in the first half on Thursday, the Rams still managed to score 71 points, shot 42.9 percent beyond the arc and had four players finish in double figures.
Against SDSU, Colorado State was held to its lowest point total of the season, shot 30.0 percent from behind the line and had one player --- Stanton Kidd --- finish in double figures. Kidd had 10 points, his final two coming with 2:06 to play.
"(SDSU) is really long and athletic and they do a good job of containing penetration and packing the paint when you have the basketball," Kidd said. "They took away our bread and butter, which is screening and rolling. They just give you a hard time."
As stingy as the Aztecs were defensively, however, they were more than willing to divvy-up the dividends on the offensive end. Senior guard Aqeel Quinn and junior forward Winston Shepard, who finished in double figures for the sixth straight game, both scored 12 of their game-high 16 points in the second half. When the Aztecs staggered through a scoreless drought of 4:09 midway through the final 20 minutes, it was Quinn's three pointer with two seconds left on the shot clock that boosted SDSU's lead to 48-38 after CSU had cut the deficit to seven.
Senior Dwayne Polee II, again proving just how dangerous the Aztecs can be at full strength, added 12 points (4-of-7 shooting) and six rebounds in 19 minutes, his longest stint of the season.
SDSU swept Wyoming during the regular season, winning 60-52 in Laramie on Jan. 14 and 67-41 at Viejas Arena on Feb. 11. In the second contest, the Cowboys were without senior forward Larry Nance Jr., who despite missing four games with mononucleosis still earned first-team all-MW honors and was tabbed the Defensive Player of the Year by the league's coaches.
"We've had two, tough, hard-fought games with them," Fisher said. "(Wyoming coach) Larry Shyatt had a team that was leading the league at the midpoint of the season. Nance goes down and it affects them immediately. He's back. I don't know if he's 100 percent back, but he's back.
"They're good. They're senior-laden. Larry Shyatt knows what he's doing and he controls pace and tempo of the game. They're a hard team to speed up. So, we're going to have to guard them."
Of that, there will be little doubt.