BYU-San Diego St. Preview

3/14/2008 12:59 PM

By JEFF MEZYDLO
STATS Senior Writer

BYU lost two Mountain West games this season and its most recent defeat came against San Diego State.

The 24th-ranked Cougars look to avenge that loss to the Aztecs and advance to the finals of the conference tournament for the second straight season when the teams meet in the semifinals on Friday night in Las Vegas.

BYU (26-6) closed the regular season with four consecutive victories after losing 69-65 at San Diego State on Feb. 23. The top-seeded Cougars, who won their second straight outright Mountain West regular-season title, continued their run with an 89-62 quarterfinal win over Colorado State on Thursday.

San Diego State (20-11), meanwhile, won 53-49 over Air Force in quarterfinal action on Thursday. The victory secured a third-consecutive 20-win season for the Aztecs, who join UNLV as the only two-time Mountain West tournament champions.

Friday's contest marks the first meeting in MWC tournament play between the teams since San Diego State won 62-51 over the Cougars in 2002.

While BYU was able to hold off the Aztecs for a 59-56 victory in Provo on Jan. 23, San Diego State shot 46.3 percent to snap the Cougars' nine-game winning streak in the February meeting.

"We've played them close at their place. We beat them at our place. And now we're on a neutral site," said San Diego State junior Lorrenzo Wade, who had 28 points in the win over BYU. "So I couldn't be any more confident going into the game tomorrow."

While the Aztecs may have confidence in their ability, BYU could be playing the best basketball of any team in the conference.

The Cougars shot 74 percent in the second half Thursday while setting MWC tournament records for largest margin of victory and highest overall field-goal percentage (65.2 percent).

Conference co-player of the year Lee Cummard had 18 points and seven assists for the Cougars, who shot 12-for-20 from 3-point range, recorded 23 assists and had five players in double figures.

"BYU reminds me of the Harlem Globetrotters,'' Colorado State coach Tim Miles said. "I mean, they pass, they cut, they make shots."

The Cougars also clamped down defensively, holding the Rams to 1-of-8 from 3-point range in the second half after they shot 6-for-11 from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes.

"I think one of the big challenges at this time of the year is to get your team to play with its utmost sense of urgency," said BYU coach Dave Rose, whose team lost to UNLV in last season's title game and hasn't won a league tournament championship since 2001. "And when you get two teams out there that are playing with that, you know, great sense of urgency, it's extremely competitive.

The 6-foot-7 Cummard averaged 15.8 points during the regular season and 16.0 on 57.1-percent shooting versus San Diego State this season.

Wade, who hails from Las Vegas and joined Cummard and BYU's Trent Plaisted as first-team all-Mountain West selections, had just 12 points Thursday for the Aztecs, but made four free throws in the final seven seconds to help beat Air Force.

San Diego State overcame a 35.9-percent shooting effort and 15 turnovers by going 20-for-22 from the free-throw line in that contest.

The Aztecs are trying for their second league tournament title in three seasons.