LAS VEGAS — It's been three years since the Aggies reached the championship game of the Mountain West Conference Tournament.
They changed that Friday night in the first semifinal at the Thomas & Mack Center. The Utah State men's basketball team will be playing for an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament Saturday afternoon after taking care of Nevada, 79-66.
"Just really proud of these guys," USU head coach Jerrod Calhoun said. "… We got efforts from a lot of guys. It was a team effort tonight."
In the rubber match — both teams won on their respective home courts during the regular season — it was mostly all Aggies (27-6). The fifth-seeded Wolf Pack (22-12) led briefly midway through the first half, but top-seeded USU took a seven-point advantage into halftime and never looked back over the final 20 minutes.
The Aggies weren't spooked one bit by it being Friday the 13th. Freshman wing Adlan Elamin led a balanced scoring attack with a team-best 15 points, while also grabbing six rebounds.
Elamin had plenty of help as four teammates joined him in double-digit scoring in MJ Collins Jr. (12), Mason Falslev (12), Drake Allen (12) and Karson Templin (11) off the bench. Zach Keller and Kolby King each added seven points.
Allen grabbed a game-best 9 rebounds, while also dishing out a game-high six assists.
The Wolf Pack were led by Vaughan Weems with a game-high 17 points. Chuck Bailey III added 10 points. Weems also hauled in nine rebounds.
It was looking like it might be a low-scoring affair with the way the game started. The Wolf Pack controlled the opening tip and then proceeded to miss their first six field goal attempts. The Aggies didn't take advantage, though, missing their first five shots.
USU did score first when Elamin finished off a pass from Fallsev with a layup. Templin scored five straight points to give the Aggies an 11-5 lead seven minutes into the game. Then the top seeds went nearly four minutes between field goals.
Nevada scored seven unanswered points to take its first lead of the game at the 10:51 mark of the first half.
After three lead changes and a tie, the Aggies used a 10-2 surge to get in front. Keller converted a three-point play, followed by a one-handed slam by Elamin off a long pass from Allen on a break. Falslev made a runner, and Collins scored on a pass from Falslve, was fouled and made the free throw to give USU a 23-14 lead with 8:27 left in the opening half.
Elamin and Allen had rebound dunks to bring the Aggie faithful to their feet. Allen was going in for another slam on a break and was fouled hard, which turned into a flagrant 1 on Corey Camper Jr. However, USU only ended up scoring a single point off the free throws and ensuing possession.
The Wolf Pack got within 31-28 with 2:34 left in the first half.
Tucker Anderson drilled a 3-pointer, and Templin made a layup to give the Aggies a 39-32 lead at the break.
USU quickly added to the its lead, scoring the first six points of the second half to build a 45-32 advantage. Elamin beat the shot clock with a 3-pointer a minute later and hit a fall-away jumper to give the designated home team a 50-34 lead with 14 minutes to play.
Two-and-a-half minutes later the Aggie students were chanting "Up by 20" when King converted a three-point play to give USU a 57-37 lead with 11:29 left in the game. Keller gave the Aggies their largest lead of the game, 58-37, with a free throw a minute later.
USU maintained a 15-point lead through most of the rest of the game. Nevada did get within 69-58 with 3:23 to play, but the Aggies made their final 10 free throws to seal the victory and punch their ticket to the championship game.
