Back-to-back: Aggies cap off historic MW tourney run
Utah State needed arguably the greatest shot of the Mountain West era to defeat the No. 5 San Diego State Aztecs and hoist its second-straight tournament title. Luckily, they had arguably one of the best players in the Mountain West era to take it — and more importantly — make it.
Senior guard Sam Merrill put on a spectacular display in the tournament, with his crescendo being a game-winner from five feet behind the three-point line with 2.5 seconds left on the clock. His shot sealed a 59-56 victory, as Malachi Flynn’s half-court lob hit the rim and bounced out as time expired. Merrill helped deliver Utah State back-to-back titles and became the first player in Mountain West history to win back-to-back tournament MVP’s.
Last season, Utah State entered the conference tournament as the two-seed — the same as this year — and faced a similar path to the championship game. First, the Aggies had to get past a New Mexico team that tied them at halftime and held a double-digit lead in the second half. Next, USU faced a team that — on their best day — struck fear into their opponent from three. Finally, they met a San Diego State team in the final that wasn’t going to let anything past them easily.
Photo by Iain Laurence
In last year’s final, Merrill led both teams with 24 points, while shooting just 1-9 from deep. However, he took over late when his team needed him to the most. And he did again this year.
“We could do a half-hour dissertation on this, but he’s just the ultimate winner and competitor, and he grew up an Aggie, and it means so much to him,” said USU head coach Craig Smith. “Dude shows up every day. Doesn’t matter, 45-minute workout, hour and a half practice, three-hour practice. His team loses, he’s so PO’d without taking it out on anyone. When we lose we run sprints and he wins that sprint every time. Wins it every time.”
To start the game, both teams looked anxious and missed an uncharacteristic amount of threes. Merrill made the first three for the Aggies, then proceeded to go 0-8 as a team. Similarly, San Diego State started off 1-8 from the field and found its only bucket on a Yanni Wetzell layup. Still, the score was 7-7 and both teams had their feet planted in the game. That’s when San Diego State went on a 20-4 run over 10 minutes and had a comfortable lead heading into halftime. But if there’s anything the Aggies have shown over this tournament run, no lead is insurmountable.
Utah State went on a 10-2 run of its own and closed to half with a Diogo Brito three to lock the score at 29-21. According to Smith, if it wasn’t for that run, things would have felt a lot different at the break.
“The way we finished the first half was huge because not a lot was going right on the offensive end, and we kind of weathered the storm,” Smith said. “That last play with 1 point whatever seconds it was, Abel Porter was our inbounder and finds Brito wide open, kind of on the other side of the top of the key, and he sticks that three, and we go in at halftime down eight, but quite frankly it felt like we should have been down 18.”
The Aggies carried that momentum over into the second half and opened on a 7-0 run led by Merrill, who by this point, looked as if he knew it was time for him to take over. The thing about Merrrill is, however, even in the midst of a total takeover, he looks for the right play and doesn’t rely on himself solely to score points. Still, Utah State had a lot of work left to do facing the No. 5 team in the nation and the conference player of the year, Malachi Flynn. He and KJ Feagin kept the Aztecs fighting by trading off makes for the first 10 minutes of the second half. Feagin was fouled on a three-point attempt with 9:56 left and sunk all three to put San Diego State up 42-38.
Enter Sam Merrill.
He gave Utah State its first lead since the opening 10 minutes of the first half by burying back-to-back threes. Two of his teammates were crucial in this late-game surge as well: sophomore center Neemias Queta and junior forward Alphonso Anderson. The latter made two free throws to give Utah State a 48-47 lead, but also came up with two huge threes minutes earlier as the Aztecs were starting to pull ahead. Queta — who joined Merrill on the all-tournament team — scored eight of Utah State’s 15 points in the final seven minutes.
Being a crucial part in the team’s success after the season he’s was a big accomplishment for the Portuguese big man.
“This one is even sweeter than last year’s,” he said. “We had a lot more ups and downs — a lot more downs than last year, and we just stuck together and just found a way to overcome everything that came at us. Coach Smith just always told us to like stay together and just always try to think of the next play and keep staying together. It was just great. I don’t have words to explain it.”
With 39 seconds left, Merrill uncharacteristically missed his first of two free throws — according to him, it was the first time in his career he’d missed from the line in the final minute of a game. However, Flynn missed a three on the other end of the court and Merrill picked up the rebound with enough time left for one more shot. The winning shot.
The @MountainWest title is going back to @USUBasketball 🙌
Catch the thrilling ending between The Aggies and San Diego State ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/60KmmWkVb2
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) March 8, 2020
Utah State walked away with a handful of accomplishments after Saturday afternoon’s game. The first team in six years to repeat as tournament champions, the first back-to-back titles in either the Mountain West or WAC eras for the program, among a few others. But perhaps most importantly, the team will be back in the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row. Not having the stress of a week and a half before knowing their fate is a win in itself.
“It’s been like this all year, and it’s definitely relieving, there’s no doubt,” Smith said.
Utah State is the first Division One men’s team to punch its ticket to “the big dance” and the team’s seed and matchup will be revealed on selection Sunday, March. 15.