Nique Clifford scored 24 points, and No. 2 seed Colorado State beat fifth-seeded Boise State 69-56 on Saturday in the final of the Mountain West men’s basketball tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center.
The Rams made a Mountain West championship-record 12 3-pointers for their first title since 2003.
Colorado State (25-9) will make its second straight NCAA Tournament appearance on a 10-game win streak.
Boise State trailed by 10 points at the half and pulled to within five points during the first minute of the second. But Jaylen Crocker-Johnson hit consecutive 3-pointers during an 11-0 run, and the Rams led 43-27. Clifford made the Rams’ 12th 3-pointer with about 10 minutes left that stretched their lead to 60-36.
Ethan Moore scored a career-high 11 points and Bowen Born added nine for the Rams. Clifford and Born each made three 3s as the Rams shot 12 of 24 from distance.
Tyson Degenhart scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half to lead Boise State (24-9).
Colorado State took the lead for good about eight minutes in and led by as many as 17 points in the first half. Boise State used an 11-4 surge to cut the deficit to 32-22 at the break. Crocker-Johnson’s layup gave the Rams their largest lead, 63-38, with 6:48 remaining.
Big West men’s
■ UC San Diego 75, UC Irvine 61: At Lee’s Family Forum, Hayden Gray knocked down six of his seven 3-point attempts, as the top-seeded Tritons (30-4) pulled away late to beat the Anteaters in the championship and earn their first NCAA Tournament berth.
UC San Diego moved up from Division II to join the conference in 2020 and won the regular-season championship in their first full year of Division I eligibility. They have now won 15 straight.
Gray finished 8 of 10 from the field to lead the Tritons with 22 points. Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.
Justin Hohn led No. 2 seed UC Irvine (28-6) with 18 points.
Big West women’s
■ UC San Diego 75, UC Davis 66: Gracie Gallegos scored 24 points to spark the fourth-seeded Tritons to a win over the third-seeded Aggies (21-12) in the championship game.
Playing in their first Division I postseason, the Tritons (20-15) won their third straight tournament game to claim their first conference tournament title.
WAC women’s
■ Grand Canyon 65, UT-Arlington 62: At Orleans Arena, Trinity San Antonio scored 19 points, Laura Erikstrup added 17 points and the top-seeded Lopes (32-2) advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time with a victory over the Mavericks (17-13) in the championship game.
Grand Canyon extended the nation’s longest, and WAC-record, win streak to 30 games.
Koi Love scored 21 points for UT Arlington, which committed 27 turnovers.
