Darrion Trammell and Keshad Johnson scored 15 points each to lead the top-seeded San Diego State men's basketball team to a 64-49 win against fifth-seeded San Jose State in a semifinal game at the Mountain West tournament on Friday in Las Vegas.
Micah Parrish paced the reserves with nine points for San Diego State (26-6), which advanced to play third-seeded Utah State in the final on Saturday. The Aggies defeated second-seeded Boise State 72-62 in the second semifinal.
Omari Moore, who came in averaging 17.8 points for San Jose State (20-13), was held to seven on 3-for-13 shooting. Tibet Gorener scored 15 points off the bench as the lone player in double figures for the Spartans, who beat Nevada in overtime in a quarterfinal on Thursday, its first tournament win since joining the MWC in 2013.
The Aztecs gained some early separation with a 7-0 run that gave them a 14-8 lead with 12:15 left in the first half.
Matt Bradley scored with a left-hand drive for a 21-12 lead, and Johnson hit a pullup jumper to make it 23-12. Two free throws by Parrish capped the 9-0 run and made it 25-12 with 2:59 left.
San Diego State maintained the double-digit lead the rest of the half as Trammell stepped into a 3-pointer and sank it with five seconds left to give the Aztecs a 33-20 lead at the break.
Moore was held to five points on 2-for-7 shooting in the first half.
San Diego State didn't let up in the second half.
Lamont Butler converted a three-point play to extend the lead to 38-22, and Johnson scored on a dunk to make it 40-22 with 16:32 left in the game.
The Spartans managed to get back within 14 points twice over the next five minutes, but couldn't get any closer until Sage Tolbert III scored on a dunk to make it 53-40 with 6:53 remaining.
Gorener then made a layup to make it an 11-point game, but Butler sank a 3-pointer on the other end to give the Aztecs some breathing room.
--Field Level Media
San Jose St. | San Diego St. | |
Tibet Gorener 15 | Scoring | Keshad Johnson 15 |
Alvaro Cardenas 6 | Assists | Lamont Butler 4 |
Ibrahima Diallo 8 | Rebounds | Nathan Mensah 8 |
Trey Anderson 3 | Free Throws Made | Darrion Trammell 5 |
Garrett Anderson 1 | Steals | Aguek Arop 1 |
Trey Anderson 3 | Blocks | Keshad Johnson 2 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
San Jose St. | 49 | 34.5 | 5-19 | 6-10 | 9 | 38 | 3 | 3 | 13 |
San Diego St. | 64 | 40.7 | 6-16 | 14-19 | 12 | 32 | 5 | 3 | 8 |