Cal State Bakersfield wins first-ever Division I conference tournament title

The Cal State Bakersfield men’s basketball team needed to wait 0.2 seconds for its automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.

The Roadrunners didn’t mind the wait. They knew they were on the verge of history.

Dedrick Basile sized up the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year Pascal Siakam and fired off the game-winning 3-pointer.

Cal State Bakersfield dethroned New Mexico State 57-54 in a thrilling WAC final on Saturday at Orleans Arena to win its first Division I conference tournament crown.

For the first time in the Roadrunners’ 36-year history they will be dancing in the NCAA Tournament.

Roadrunner fans rushed the floor after Basile’s clutch shot with 0.2 seconds left. The floor was cleared, and five minutes later the Roadrunners were celebrating history.

New Mexico State’s streak of WAC tournament titles ended at four.

“They earned the win tonight and played really good basketball when they needed to in spurts,” said New Mexico State coach Marvin Menzies, whose team could still play in a postseason tournament. “They produced when they needed to. It was heart wrenching, to say the least.”

Cal State Bakersfield (24-8), which could get a seed in the 13 to 16 range, defeated New Mexico State (23-10) for the first time after losing the first 11 meetings.

Basile, the WAC tournament Most Valuable Player, had a game-high 18 points, and Damiyne Durham scored 15.

“That’s something I always dreamed about,” said Basile, who transferred from Trinity Valley Community College in Texas. “It just happened.”

Kevin Mays, a senior forward from Queens, N.Y., got emotional during the postgame news conference.

“We’re definitely going to make noise during the tournament,” Mays said. “I’m excited to be a part of it.”

Cal State Bakersfield’s Jaylin Airington, Basile and Durham made the all-tournament team. New Mexico State’s Ian Baker and Siakam rounded out the squad.

WOMEN

The New Mexico State women’s basketball team received a wake-up call in the final game of the regular season.

The Aggies, the defending Western Athletic Conference champions, were ruling the conference with a 13-0 record when the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley came into Las Cruces on Senior Night last weekend.

Rio Grande Valley spoiled the Aggies’ special night with a dominant victory.

New Mexico State didn’t forget the loss and returned the favor during the WAC tournament final on Saturday. The top-seeded Aggies crushed the No. 2 Vaqueros 80-53 at Orleans Arena to win their second consecutive league championship.

The Aggies and Vaqueros also met in the championship game last season and have developed a rivalry.

Odds indicated that New Mexico State (26-4) would enter the WAC tournament at 14-0 and waltz through the field. But Rio Grande Valley (19-13) changed that perception with a 66-55 victory to spoil the Aggies’ Senior Night.

New Mexico State coach Mark Trakh got the message that was sent to his team on that disappointing night.

“There are six teams that could beat us,” Trakh said earlier this week. “We were reminded of that. We have a record of 42-7 in the last two years. That doesn’t mean anything this time of year. We got to be the best team for three days.”

New Mexico State only needed to be the best team for two days, thanks to a quarterfinals bye. For those two days, they Aggies were in top form.

The Aggies crushed Utah Valley 58-44 on Friday in the semifinals to set up the rubber-match with Rio Grande Valley.

Freshman guard Brooke Salas stepped up for the Aggies during the final with a game-high 20 points and five rebounds. Senior guard Sasha Weber recorded 16 points and was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament.

The Aggies held WAC Player of the Year Shawnte Goff to six points.

Weber, Salas, Goff, Hildur Bjorg Kjartandottir of Rio Grande Valley and Batabe Sempare of Cal State Bakersfield were named to the All-Tournament Team.

New Mexico State is headed back to the NCAA Tournament and hopes to play spoiler. The Aggies fell to top seed Maryland 75-57 in the opening round last March.

“We played Maryland to a 17-point game in the first game, which is good for us coming from the WAC,” Trakh said. “To go into Maryland, I was just praying that game wasn’t one of those 95-45 games.

“It was a good game; it meant a lot to the program. I was proud of the kids, and we want to build on that.”

Contact Gilbert Manzano at gmanzano@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0492. Follow him on Twitter: @gmanzano24