The 2008

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Ja ...

men's basketball tournament was played at the

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from March 12–15, 2008. The tournament was sponsored by

Phillips 66 The Phillips 66 Company is an American Multinational corporation, multinational energy company headquartered in Westchase, Houston, Texas. Its name, dating back to 1927 as a trademark of the Phillips Petroleum Company, assisted in establishing ...

and all first round, quarterfinal, and semifinal games were broadcast live on the

MountainWest Sports Network The MountainWest Sports Network, also known as The Mtn. (stylized as the mtn.), was an American college sports television channel. Launched on September 1, 2006, it was dedicated to the Mountain West Conference (MWC), including studio programs fo ...

and

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, while the championship game was broadcast on

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. For the second straight year, tournament host

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. ...

defeated regular season league champion BYU 76–61 to win the Mountain West Conference tournament championship and earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Regular season

BYU entered the tournament as the first team in Mountain West history to win back-to-back regular season titles. * Denotes regular season champion. Source:

Tournament bracket

Note: Asterisk (*) denotes game ended in overtime. Source:

Games

First round

Colorado St. vs. Wyoming

Before the game, Wyoming held the lead in all-time matchups against Colorado State, 125–83, and had won every matchup this season. It was the third meeting of the two teams in MWC Tournament play. The Rams are now 7–7 in Mountain West tournament history, while the Cowboys are 6–9. 9th seed Colorado State entered the contest with 8th seed Wyoming having gone 0–16 in conference play during the regular season, but stunned Wyoming with a 68–63 win during the first round game of the tournament. Junior Marcus Walker led the Rams with 22 points followed by true Freshman Andre McFarland with 18. Wyoming received 29 points from Junior Brandon Ewing, 19 of which were in the first half. Colorado St. went on to play top seed BYU.

Quarterfinals

BYU vs. Colorado St.

Colorado St. kept it close through the first half by shooting threes, but BYU took off early in the second half. BYU shot over 70% in the second half. BYU's Lee Cummard was the player of the game.

San Diego St. vs. Air Force

Lorrenzo Wade sank four free throws and grabbed a critical rebound in the final seven seconds, allowing San Diego State to edge Air Force 53–49.

UNLV vs. TCU

UNLV answered TCU's record onslaught of 3-pointers with a three-point play by Wink Adams in the closing seconds that gave the Runnin' Rebels an 89–88 win over the Horned Frogs.

Utah vs. New Mexico

Luke Nevill Luke Alexander Nevill (born 19 February 1986) is an Australian former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, publ ...

made all the plays down the stretch despite playing with four fouls over the final 11½ minutes and the Utah Utes put a crimp in New Mexico's NCAA plans with an 82–80 overtime victory over the Lobos. New Mexico's J.R. Giddens missed a potential game tying lay-up as the clock expired in overtime.

Semifinals

BYU vs. San Diego St.

Lee Cummard's 20 points led 24th-ranked BYU past pesky San Diego State 63–54, sending the Cougars to the championship for the second straight year.

UNLV vs. Utah

Wink Adams and Curtis Terry each scored 20 points, leading UNLV back into the Mountain West Conference championship with a 61–55 win over Utah.

Finals

UNLV vs. BYU

In a rematch of the 2007 MWC Championship game, the second-seed UNLV Runnin' Rebels challenged the top-seed and nationally ranked BYU Cougars. The two teams split the regular season series in blowouts. UNLV defeated BYU 76–61 to win their second straight conference championship and their third overall. BYU led at halftime, but the Runnin' Rebels produced a slaughter in the second half. UNLV's junior guard Wink Adams was named the Tournament MVP after scoring 23 points, 14 of which came in the final 7 minutes of the game and senior Curtis Terry added 20 points for the Rebels. BYU was led by freshman guard

Jimmer Fredette James Taft "Jimmer" Fredette (born February 25, 1989) is an American former professional basketball player who serves as the managing director of the USA Basketball 3x3 Men’s National Team. Fredette was the 2011 National Player of the Year i ...

, who had 17 points.

References

External links

Official Site
{{2008 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament navbox Mountain West Conference men's basketball tournament

Tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

Mountain West Conference men's basketball tournament The Mountain West Conference men's basketball tournament is held annually to determine the men's basketball champion from the Mountain West Conference. The winner receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Basketball tournament, although t ...