“Defense!” The chants swarmed the Thomas and Mack Center all throughout day two of conference tournament play. High-intensity defense was the name of the game for the San Diego State Aztecs (22-7,13-4 MWC) as it often is.
They secured a 53-46 victory over the Fresno State Bulldogs (19-13, 8-9 MWC) in a low-scoring affair on Mar. 10 in a game that featured two of the top three scoring defenses in the country.
Despite Orlando Robinson scoring more than half of the Bulldogs’ points with 25, and doing everything in his power to lead his team to victory, the Aztecs defense played strong enough to advance to the conference semifinals for the fifteenth straight season.
Robinson attempted 20 shots for the Bulldogs and made ten of them, including making all three of his three-point attempts. He also snagged 11 rebounds and hashed out three assists, doing it all for head coach Justin Hutson’s team.
For the Aztecs, it wasn’t the typical culprit, Matt Bradley leading the scoring. In fact, Fresno State defended Bradley extremely well and swarmed him each time he touched the ball. Although Bradley did contribute seven points and six rebounds, the Aztecs relied on a combination of Chad Baker-Mazara, Adam Seiko, and Trey Pulliam for the majority of their points.
The Mountain West’s sixth man of the year, Baker-Mazara, scored 11 points with five rebounds, Seiko scored 11, and Pulliam scored 10. Mountain West’s defensive player of the year, Nathan Mensah, added key minutes as well scoring six points with six rebounds and five blocks.
Thursday held all four quarter-final matchups of the Mountain West Tournament and 14 points combined was the point differential of the four games. San Diego State had the largest margin of victory in Vegas Thursday.
Top-seeded Boise State held on against the Nevada Wolfpack, 71-69 in the first game of the day. In game two, UNLV and Wyoming faced off and despite holding a four-point lead in the final minute on their home floor, UNLV fell short by three points to the Cowboys, 59-56. In the third game of the day, Colorado State and Utah State went back and forth all game. With three seconds left on the clock, Chandler Jacobs clinched the victory for the Rams with a layup that gave CSU a 53-51 win.
On day three of the tournament, the Wyoming Cowboys will battle the Boise State Broncos at 6 p.m. PT. At 9 p.m. PT, head coach Brian Dutcher’s Aztecs will face the Colorado State Rams (25-4, 14-4 MWC).