San Diego State forward Malcolm Thomas celebrates after their Mountain West Conference Tournament game against New Mexico Friday, March 12, 2010. San Diego State won the game 72-69 to advance to the championship game on Saturday.
Friday, March 12, 2010 | 9:40 p.m.
SDSU Knocks Off Top-Seeded UNM
Behind Green Valley grad Billy White's career high 28 points, San Diego State shocks No. 8 New Mexico, 72-69, in the semifinals of the Mountain West Conference Tournament.
Billy White pounded on the Mountain West Conference logo at midcourt, D.J. Gay collapsed on the floor and the rest of the Aztecs congratulated each other around their bench.
Everyone celebrated in some way after San Diego State played what coach Steve Fisher called their best game of the year in a 72-69 victory over New Mexico in the semifinals of the conference tournament.
“This was big-time, high-level major college basketball,” Fisher said. “We played about as well as we can.”
San Diego State broke No. 1 seed New Mexico’s 15-game win streak and advanced to the conference championship as the No. 4 seed for the second year in a row.
It wasn’t without suspense. New Mexico had the ball coming out of a timeout with seven seconds remaining.
Not surprisingly, the Lobos got the ball to junior Dairese Gary. He drove to the basket but missed a layup.
“He made a good run,” Gay said. “He got a shot off and had an opportunity to win the game for them.”
Instead, it was a play that happened a minute earlier that decided the game. San Diego State’s Kawhi Leonard scooped a loose ball away from New Mexico and threw it down to the other end of the court to White.
As White went up, Gary fouled him. The shot went in and White made a free-throw for a three-point play to put San Diego State ahead 67-64.
“I knew Gary was going to try to foul me before I got to the basket,” White said. “I just stretched out and made the play.”
Making the play came naturally for White on Friday night. White, a senior and Green Valley High graduate, scored a career-high 28 points on 11-for-14 shooting.
Leonard added a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds. But it was Gay’s performance that Fisher said was the most important to the Aztecs.
Gay had only five points but recorded seven assists with no turnovers.
“He guards like crazy,” Fisher said. “He helps everyone else out and wins. He’s done that since he was a little guy, and now he’s doing that for us.”
Although Mountain West Player of the Year Darington Hobson still scored 15 points with seven rebounds and seven assists, San Diego State contained him as well as possible.
The Aztecs held Hobson to only four points in the opening 15 minutes. At the beginning of that stretch, they jumped out to an 11-0 lead.
“It was very important to get this win,” Leonard said. “We wanted to get to the championship, go out and be champions of this tournament.”
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