LAS VEGAS — After the San Diego State men’s basketball team downed UNLV 74-71, in the Quarterfinals of the Mountain West Conference tournament on Thursday, they now advance to Friday’s semifinal, where they’ll look to face the No. 1 Mountain West-seeded Utah State Aggies.
“Both teams played good defense. Two sensational performances. One by Dedan Thomas and one by Jaedon LeDee,” head coach Brian Dutcher stated. “Sometimes coaching is easy. I ran the last play, gave it to your best player and let him make a player, and that’s what Jaedon did at the elbow sweep.”
LaDee scored a school record for a Mountain West Tournament game, 34 points in the contest, including seven during overtime and 16 rebounds for the Aztecs (23-9, 11-7 Mountain West). Guard Lamont Butler scored 12 points, and finished 5 of 8 from inside the paint. Guard Darrion Trammell shot 4 for 9, including 3 for 4 from three, finishing with 11 points alongside a season-high five steals.
UNLV (19-12, 12-6 MW) was led in scoring by guard Dedan Thomas Jr., who finished with 29 points and five assists. The Rebels also had 17 points, eight rebounds and four blocks from forward Keylan Boone. Guard Justin Webster also finished the night with 14 points. The overtime loss snapped the Rebels’ five-game winning streak.
SDSU went into halftime trailing 27-22, after LeDee scored nine points in the first half. Just as the game clock was expiring before intermission, Trammell made a field goal in the final three seconds of the first half, and closed the Aztecs’ deficit to five points at the half.
“That was just great momentum,” Trammell said. “We talked about it going into half. We were kind of down, and we talked about it as a team. That was something positive. We just highlighted that, and we went out in the second half with great energy.”
LeDee’s 18-point second half helped the Scarlet and Black secure the three-point-victory. San Diego State was dominant within the glass all game, outrebounding the Rebels 50-31 and outscoring UNLV 20-8 on second-chance points. SDSU was proficient in steals, with nine to UNLV’s four and 11 points to the Rebels’ four on fast breaks. The Aztecs also scored significantly better in the paint, outscoring UNLV by a scoring margin of 32-20.
Dutcher spoke on keeping momentum throughout the tournament to win close games after several in the past have slipped away.
“It’s March. It’s tournament time. This is a good time to start winning close games,” said Dutcher. “Everything in the past is in the past. All we control is the future. Now we’ve got one. We’ve won a close game. Let’s go get another one and another one and let’s keep this going.”
San Diego State’s semifinal matchup against Utah State is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. tonight.
