Thursday afternoon’s Mountain West Conference tournament quarterfinal game between No. 1 seed San Diego State men’s basketball and the No. 8 seed Wyoming Cowboys was neck-and-neck. However, SDSU was able to sneak out a three-point victory at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
“l could not be prouder of this group and I can not wait to play again tomorrow,” SDSU head coach Brian Dutcher said after the game.
Next on SDSU’s road to the MWC tournament championship game is Nevada, who is coming off an 89-82 victory over Boise State.
Nevada junior guard David Cambridge Jr. led the way for the Wolf Pack with 31 points and five rebounds. Sophomore guard Grant Sherfield also scored 26 points to help advance his team to the semifinals.
The Aztecs (21-4, 14-3 MWC) swept Nevada earlier in the season by only a few points in both games.
The last time the teams faced was on Jan. 9, when they won by two points. Nevada’s Grant Sherfield scored 20 points and picked up four rebounds while Matt Mitchell was also able to score 20 points with eight rebounds.
Nevada enters the contest with a 16-9 overall record, including 10-7 in MWC play.
SDSU is currently projected to be a No. 8 or No. 9 seed for the NCAA Tournament and is hoping to get a higher seed if they can win the next two games.
Senior forward Matt Mitchell said the key to attaining a higher seed in the Tournament is simple: just win.
“We have to win games,” Mitchell said. “Then, (the selection committee) will have to sit in that room and try to say that a team that has won 11-12 straight teams is worthy of a higher seed. If we win again tomorrow, we keep adding to that number. Hopefully winning means something in March and if we continue to win, our seed will get higher.”
