Mountain West Conference Tournament: No. 1 San Diego State proved how valuable junior forward Marcus Slaughter is to the Aztecs in a 64-52 win against No. 8 Colorado State. Slaughter scored 17 points and grabbed 19 rebounds as the Rams could not contain him in the paint. After Colorado State cut the Aztecs’ lead to six in the second half, San Diego State ran off nine straight points, and the team grabbed nine offensive rebounds during that streak to seal the game. San Diego State will play No. 4 UNLV Friday in the Mountain West Conference Tournament semifinals.
UNLV earned a trip to the quarterfinals with a thrilling 65-64 win against No. 5 New Mexico. Senior guard Ricky Morgan drained two free throws with 16 seconds remaining to give the Rebels the lead and win. Morgan led the Rebels with 16 points as the team had to overcome a 43-30 score in the second half.
(2) Air Force was unable to come back from a 16-point first deficit and lost an upset to (7) Wyoming 57-55. The Cowboys were led by Steve Leven’s 20 points and hot free-throw shooting down the stretch, nailing 11-of-12 from the stripe. Air Force came close with four minutes remaining, capitalizing on a four-point play to cut the deficit to three, but the Falcons could not get any closer. Antoine Hood led the Falcons with 16 points, which is a surprise, considering Air Force didn’t score over a 13-minute stretch.
In the final game, 6th-seeded Utah overcame a medical scare from Luke Nevill to upset 3-seed Brigham Young 74-70. Nevill, a 7-0 freshman from Australia, scored 29 points and 14 rebounds, but was in a Denver hospital Thursday morning with chest tightness, and feared a heart attack. Nevill was cleared to play Thursday afternoon, and had the game of his brief career, putting Utah ahead with a short jumper with 12 seconds remaining. After trading foul shots, a purposely-missed free-throw by BYU’s Rashaun Broadus led to a jump ball, with Utah taking possession with .2 seconds left. Keena Young led BYU with 17 points. [3/09/06]
