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LAS VEGAS, Nev. - The No. 2 seed University of Utah men's basketball team (23-9) takes on No. 4 seed San Diego State (23-8) in the finals of the 2009 Conoco Mountain West Conference Basketball Championship Saturday. Tipoff is slated for 4:00 p.m. PT at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas and the game will be broadcast live in high definition by VERSUS.
Utah reached the finals via a 68-55 victory over No. 6 seed Wyoming on the back of a double-double from senior center Luke Nevill (Perth, Australia). The 7-2, 265-pound center scored 23 points and collected 15 rebounds, one short of tying his career high. It was his ninth game this season scoring 20+ points and his 15th double-digit rebound effort. Sophomore guard Carlon Brown (Riverside, Calif.) contributed 13 points, five rebounds and a career-high three steals in the semifinal win, while senior guard Luka Drca (Belgrade, Serbia) accounted for nine points and dished out eight assists.
San Diego State punched its finals ticket with a 64-62 semifinal upset of No. 1 seed BYU. Senior forward Lorenzo Wade led the Aztecs with 24 points on 6-of-11 from the field and 11-of-11 from the free throw line. Kyle Spain also hit double-digits, scoring 13 points.
The Utes own a 52-13 record all-time against Aztecs, including a 4-1 mark in neutral site games. Saturday's championship meeting will mark just their second matchup in MWC Tournament play after locking horns four other times in conference tournaments as members of the WAC. All five previous meetings were in the first round of those tournaments. Saturday's contest will also mark the first time they have faced off in Las Vegas.
TelevisionThe 2009 MWC Men's Basketball Championship will be broadcast in High Definition (HD) on VERSUS (DirecTV 603, Comcast 34 in SLC). The commentators for Utah's MWC championship game against San Diego State will be Tim Neverett (play-by-play) and Tim McCormick (color).
RadioAll of the Utes' games at the MWC tournament will be broadcast live on KALL 700 AM in Salt Lake City and at www.kall700sports.com. Play-by- play will be delivered by Mike Lageschulte. Jimmy Soto will provide color analysis.
InternetFans can follow all of the action from this year's tournament at www.themwc.com, where they will find live stats, updated brackets, postgame press conference videos and more.
