New Mexico 70, Boise State 67

[March 15, 2014]  LAS VEGAS — No. 20 New Mexico 70, Boise State 67: Cameron Bairstow had 23 points and eight rebounds as the Lobos held off the Broncos to advance to the Mountain West title game in Las Vegas.

Kendall Williams scored 16 points for second-seeded New Mexico (26-6), which advances to meet top-seeded San Diego State (29-3) in Saturday’s championship contest. Deshawn Delaney added a career-high 14 points and Alex Kirk grabbed 11 rebounds.

Derrick Marks scored 20 points for sixth-seeded Boise State (21-13), which was called for an over-and-back with 2.1 seconds left while playing for a tying 3-point attempt. Thomas Bropleh added 16 points before being ejected for drawing a flagrant 2 foul with 7:15 remaining.

Boise State trailed by two with less than two minutes remaining before Williams drained a 3-pointer from the right corner and Bairstow followed with a jumper on the left baseline to give the Lobos a 66-59 lead with 42.1 seconds left. Marks and Jeff Elorriaga hit consecutive 3-pointers to bring the Broncos within one with 21 seconds left and Boise State again was within one before Bairstow hit two free throws with 3.8 seconds remaining.

The Lobos led 35-29 at halftime before the Broncos rallied and knotted the score at 46 on a 3-pointer by Bropleh with 10:29 to play. New Mexico answered with a 9-3 burst to take a six-point lead with under 5 1/2 minutes left before Boise State moved within 57-55 on two free throws by Nick Duncan with 3:33 to go.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Bropleh went up to contest a shot by Bairstow and crashed into his neck and it was determined to be a flagrant 2 after officials reviewed the play at the monitor.. … Boise State leading scorer Anthony Drmic had just six points on 2-of-9 shooting before fouling out. … Bairstow was 15-of-18 from the free throw line and the Lobos were 22-of-36 overall compared to 11-of-17 for the Broncos.

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