Las Vegas • Utah State scored the first 13 points of the second half Saturday on the way to a 64-57 win over San Diego State in the championship game of the Mountain West basketball tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center.
USU guard Sam Merrill scored 24 points and earned tournament MVP honors, after being named the conference's Player of the Year. Merrill posted 69 points in three tournament games.
The No. 2-seeded Aggies (28-6), winners of 17 of their last 18 games, claimed an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. USU already was safely inside the projected field, according to ESPN's Bracketology.