Seattle University fought to stay in Saturday’s Western Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament Championship Game, but New Mexico State controlled the action from the start and won its fourth straight conference tournament title with an 80-61 victory over the Redhawks at the Orleans Arena.
Jadon Cohee (Langley, B.C.) led the Redhawks with a season-high 16 points, 10 of those points coming in the second half. William Powell (Huntsville, Ala.) finished with 14 points, eight rebounds, and three assists, and Isiah Umipig (Federal Way, Wash.), a member of the All-WAC Tournament Team, ended up with 13 points, five rebounds, and four assists, but most of his offense came from the free throw line.
New Mexico State (23-10) used the three-point shot to take the early lead, as Remi Barry hit two three-pointers and Ian Baker added one to give the Aggies a 9-0 lead three minutes into the game. Jarell Flora (Bremerton, Wash.) hit a three-pointer of his own to put the Redhawks on the board, but New Mexico State scored seven unanswered points over a two-minute stretch to extend its lead to 20-7 with 11:51 left in the opening half.
A dunk by Shore Adenekan (London, England) and a three-pointer from Umipig closed the Redhawk deficit to eight at 20-12, but the Aggies were able to increase their lead back to 11 at 25-14. Cohee scored six straight points to pull the Redhawks to within five at 25-20, but Barry hit his third three-pointer of the half, Tshilidzi Nephawe converted a layup and a free throw, and DK Eldridge picked up a fast break dunk to allow the Aggies to go into the locker room at halftime ahead 33-22.
Jumpers by Flora and Powell early in the second half cut the Redhawk deficit to 10 at 36-26, but that would be as close as Seattle U would get the rest of the night, as Barry scored the Aggies’ next seven points to help them extend the lead back to 15 at 43-28. The two teams basically traded baskets throughout the second half, with New Mexico State going on a 10-2 run late in the second half to seal the game.
“I thought that New Mexico State was outstanding defensively, and we really could not get anything going overall. Our guys tried and competed to make plays, but their length and athleticism bothered us,” Seattle U head coach Cameron Dollar said. “We just could not get ball movement as a team. We got the ball to the high post, but it got stuck there.”
The Redhawks shot 39.6 percent from the field (19-of-48), attempting only seven three-point shots after averaging 18 attempts from long distance thrugh the first 30 games of the season. Seattle U shot 91.3 percent from the free throw line (21-of-23), the team’s highest single-game free throw percentage since Feb. 28, 2008, when the Redhawks missed just one of 17 free throw attempts for a .941 percentage against Western Washington.
Barry led New Mexico State with 21 points, while Tournament MVP Nephawe notched a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Daniel Mullings once again stuffed the stat sheet with eight points, seven assists, and six steals, as the Aggies shot 52.5 percent from the field (21-of-40), including 8-of-15 from behind the three-point line, and 75 percent (30-of-40) from the free throw line.
Seattle University leaves the tournament with a 16-15 overall record, the program’s first winning season since 2009-10. Adenekan, Flora, Emerson Murray (Vancouver, B.C.), and Umipig will graduate from Seattle U, but eight players who saw action during the 2014-15 season are eligible to return to the Redhawks next year.