Rebels defeat BYU 70-66, will battle San Diego State for title at 4 p.m. Saturday

Tre'Von Willis made four free throws in the final minute and UNLV held on to defeat Brigham Young 70-66 tonight in the semifinals at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Willis finished with 18 points and Chace Stanback scored 17 for the Rebels, who improved to 25-7 and advanced to face San Diego State in Saturday's championship game at 4 p.m.

Jimmer Fredette led the Cougars (29-5) with 30 points.

BYU used a 14-2 run to take a late lead before Willis rallied UNLV by scoring six points down the stretch.

Brice Massamba's free throw with 14 seconds left put the Rebels ahead 68-64. Fredette, fouled by Willis three seconds later, made two free throws.

Willis made two more free throws, and Fredette missed a 28-foot jumper.

Matt Shaw's three-point play put the Rebels ahead 57-47 with 7:54 remaining. The Cougars scored the next six points.

With the shot clock about to expire, Fredette buried a jumper from 25 feet to pull BYU within 59-56 with 3:59 left.

Fredette was fouled by Anthony Marshall on a 3-point attempt, and Fredette made all three free throws to tie it at 59 with 3:14 to go.

Michael Loyd Jr. gave BYU its first lead of the second half, 61-59, on a layup with 2:50 remaining. Stanback followed by sinking a baseline jumper with 2:40 to go.

Stanback scored 11 points to lift UNLV to a 41-34 halftime lead.

Both teams were hot from the field in the half, with the Rebels shooting 16-for-26 (61.5 percent) and the Cougars shooting 12-for-26.

SAN DIEGO STATE 72, NEW MEXICO STATE 69

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Dairese Gary missed a runner in the final second and San Diego State escaped with a 72-69 upset of eighth-ranked New Mexico in the semifinals of the Mountain West Conference tournament Friday night.

The top-seeded Lobos (29-4) saw their 15-game winning streak snapped and, in all likelihood, their hopes of a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament were dashed.

Trailing 70-69, the Lobos had the ball under their basket with 7.4 seconds left. Gary grabbed the inbounds pass and sped upcourt but stumbled at the top of the key and didn't get off a clean shot.

Kawhi Leonard grabbed the rebound for the Aztecs (24-8) and was fouled by A.J. Hardeman with seven-tenths of a second left. He sank both shots and Gary was way short on a desperation heave that would've sent it into overtime.

The fourth-seeded Aztecs will face either BYU or UNLV for the conference championship Saturday night.

The Lobos had been 24-0 this season when taking a lead into the locker room, as they did Friday night, and 12-0 in games decided by six points or less.

Billy White led the Aztecs with 28 points and Leonard added 15 points and 13 rebounds as San Diego State advanced to the title game for the second straight year. Last time, they lost by two points to Utah.

The Aztecs split with the Lobos during the regular season, winning by 10 at home on Jan. 5 and losing by a bucket in overtime at the Pit in Albuquerque a month later.

The Lobos hadn't lost since Jan. 9, and were counting on a conference tournament title to go with their regular-season crown to earn them a No. 2 seed when the NCAA field is announced Sunday.

Gary's 17 points led New Mexico, which fell behind by 12 points in the first four minutes as the Aztecs hit their first four 3-pointers, two of them by Leonard, to race out to a 14-2 lead. The Lobos didn't take their first lead until Gary sank a rim-ringing jumper with 5 seconds left in the first half, giving New Mexico a 39-38 lead at the break.

The Aztecs trailed 55-52 when Leonard's finger-roll basket and 3-pointer keyed a 10-0 run that gave San Diego State a 62-55 cushion, its largest since early in the first half. During the spurt, New Mexico's Darington Hobson, the league's newcomer and player of the year, had a couple of costly turnovers.

But Hobson's two baskets underneath after a 3-pointer by Roman Martinez tied it at 60, and Hardeman's fourth put-back bucket of the second half gave the Lobos a 64-62 lead.

White responded with back-to-back baskets, including a three-point play with 1:55 left that put San Diego State ahead 67-64.

D.J. Gay's 3-pointer with just over a minute remaining gave San Diego State a 70-66 lead, but Gary's 3-pointer made it a one-point game.