Matt Bradley scored 16 points and Jaedon LeDee had 13 off the bench to lead 20th-ranked San Diego State to a 62-57 win over Utah State in the championship game of the Mountain West tournament in Las Vegas on Saturday.
The top-seeded Aztecs (27-6) won the event for the third time in six years under coach Brian Dutcher to advance to the NCAA Tournament.
Steven Ashworth scored 13 points and Trevin Dorius had 12 for third-seeded Utah State (26-8), which entered the game shooting 40 percent from 3-point range but shot only 16.7 percent from beyond the arc on Saturday.
Utah State trailed by seven with less than two minutes left but made it a one-possession game four times in the final minute.
The Aztecs went 9-for-10 from the free-throw line in that span to hold off the Aggies.
Utah State missed its final eight field goals of the first half, allowing the Aztecs to erase an early double-digit deficit and trail 29-28 at the half.
The Aztecs took their first lead of the second half 35-34 on a jumper by Aguek Arop with 15:02 remaining.
Utah State forward Dan Akin went to the bench with his fourth foul with less than 13 minutes left, leaving a void in the middle for the Aggies.
LeDee drove to the basket, spun and scored to beat the shot clock and draw a foul with 11:51 remaining. He made the free throw for a 40-34 lead.
Utah State had missed 19 of its past 21 shots when Max Shulga scored to make it 40-36 with 11:15 remaining.
Taylor Funk grabbed a loose ball and shot a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired to move Utah State back in front 47-46 with 6:19 left, but the shot was waived off after a review. Bradley then scored on the other end to extend the lead to four.
Darrion Trammell hit a pull-up jumper to make it 53-46 with 3:03 to go.
–Field Level Media
