San Diego State No. 18 Beats Wyoming to Celebrate MWC Title

Jadon LeDi scored 21 points and Adam Seiko 14 for the No. 18 San Diego State Aztecs, who celebrated the Mountain West’s regular season undisputed title with a 67-50 victory over Wyoming on Saturday night.

Matt Bradley added 11 points to the Aztecs (24-6, 15-3 MWC), who won the conference championship at halftime thanks to Boise State’s 86-73 loss to Utah State.

The Aztecs had earned part of the title a week earlier with a crushing win in New Mexico, but squandered an opportunity to claim it outright when they failed to maintain a nine-point lead and lost 66-60 in Boise State on Tuesday night.

But it gave the sold-out 12,414 spectators at the Viejas Arena the opportunity to celebrate and watch the players cut the nets at Senior Night. This is the third regular season title in Brian Dacher’s six seasons as a coach.

Dutcher made a “confidential fall” down the stairs after cutting the last piece of the net, falling backwards into his players’ hands, before heading off to the dressing room celebration.

“Nothing gets old in a Gatorade bath,” Dutcher said. “This is an incredible achievement for this team. The regular season titles are always the hardest to win because it takes months. A lot of work. To win this conference by two matches is an incredible achievement.

“I tell them what they should say to the players who come next year is, ‘We win titles at this university. If you leave here without him, you will be one of the few.”

SDSU heads to Las Vegas as the No. 1 seed in pursuit of their seventh MWC Tournament title and automatic NCAA Tournament spot.

The Aztecs have won nine regular season MWC titles, eight of them undefeated. Both are record holders. Along with six tournament titles, SDSU has won a record 15 league championships overall. The next closest school is New Mexico with eight.

“I wanted a ring,” said Bradley, a fifth-year senior in the second season of SDSU. “I saw my teammates have it and thought, ‘I need one for myself. That’s what I did and now it’s time to win games in March.”

Jeremiah Auden scored 17 points and Xavier DuSell 16 for a last-place finish in Wyoming (9-21, 4-14), an impressive victory over Nevada but unable to keep up with the Aztecs.

SDSU took a one-point lead in the sixth minute of the game before taking control 10-0. LeDi started with a slam dunk, Darrion Trammell and Micah Parrish hit 3-pointers, and Aguek Arop scored from a strikeout to take a 19-1 lead. 8.

The Aztecs extended the lead to 34-15 before Wyoming scored the last seven points of the half.

SDSU had nine blocked shots, three of which were scored by Arop.

Bradley took a third corner with 1:57 left, which was his last kick at home. ,

“Of course, it was a good way to end my free time here,” he said. “At first I struggled but we wore them down and I just wanted to have one more thing to hold my time here. That step back 3 in the corner did it for me.”

BIG PICTURE

Wyoming: The Cowboys lost to the Aztecs for the 10th straight time.

San Diego State: Aztecs kept up for the seventh time this season.

NEXT

Wyoming: Will be the 11th seed and will face No. 6 seed New Mexico in Wednesday’s game play at the MWC tournament in Las Vegas.

San Diego State: Playing in Thursday’s quarterfinal opener against winner Colorado Fresno State.

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AP College Basketball: and and

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