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National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Wyoming 45, San Diego St. 43
When: 6:00 PM ET, Saturday, March 14, 2015
Where: Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, Nevada
Officials: # Dick Cartmell, # Eric Curry, # Randy McCall
Attendance: 10002

Wyoming 45, No. 25 San Diego State 43: Josh Adams hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with just over a minute left and the Cowboys earned their first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2002 by upsetting the Aztecs in the Mountain West Conference tournament final in Las Vegas.

Larry Nance Jr. recorded 14 points and six rebounds while Adams scored 10 for fourth-seeded Wyoming (25-9), which lost the two regular-season meetings by a combined 34 points. The Cowboys' Derek Cooke Jr. contributed seven points and seven rebounds, including two free throws with seven seconds left to seal it.

Malik Pope scored 13 points for second-seeded San Diego State (26-8), which is expected to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. JJ O'Brien had 12 points and five rebounds for the Aztecs, who shot 25 percent in the second half after converting 54.7 percent after the break in its first two tournament games.

Pope's free throw with 14:37 left gave San Diego State its first lead 29-28 and O'Brien's bucket completed a 14-0 run to make it 33-28 before Adams' 3-pointer accounted for Wyoming's first points of the second half with 11:28 to play. The Cowboys, who missed their first eight shots of the second half, finished their 12-4 run with a three-point play by Cooke and Riley Grabau's free throw with 4:49 remaining which made it 40-37.

O'Brien made two free throws with 1:36 left to give the Aztecs a 41-40 lead before Adams answered with a 3-pointer from the corner with 1:02 to go and after O'Brien missed on the ensuing possession, Adams was off target from the same spot in which he previously connected. Quinn missed a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left and Cooke, a 55.7-percent free-throw shooter, made two with seven seconds left to make it 45-41 and complete his 5-for-5 performance from the line.

GAME NOTEBOOK: San Diego State missed nine of its first 10 shots and fell behind 14-2 while Wyoming made nine of its first 12 en route to a 28-25 lead at the break after Pope and Matt Shrigley trimmed a nine-point deficit by hitting 3-pointers in the final two minutes. ...San Diego State, which was appearing in its sixth MWC tournament title game in the last seven seasons, had its seven-game winning streak snapped as the No. 2 seed in the tourney. ... Wyoming, which has reached the NCAA Tournament once in the last 27 years, was playing in its second MWC tourney final, losing to San Diego State 69-64 in overtime in 2006.
Top Game Performances
 
Wyoming   San Diego St.
Larry Nance Jr. 14 Scoring Malik Pope 13
Larry Nance Jr. 3 Assists J.J. O'Brien 2
Derek Cooke Jr. 7 Rebounds Winston Shepard 7
Derek Cooke Jr. 5 Free Throws Made J.J. O'Brien 4
N/A Steals Aqeel Quinn 2
Larry Nance Jr. 2 Blocks Skylar Spencer 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Wyoming 45 35.7 8-20 7-9 9 23 2 0 7
San Diego St. 43 32.6 4-17 9-10 8 27 4 2 4