Utah State earns NCAA bid

LAS VEGAS — Sam Merrill scored 17 of his 27 points in the second half, including a contested three-pointer with 2.5 seconds left to lift Utah State to a 59-56 victory over No. 5 San Diego State in the Mountain West Tournament championship on Saturday.

The Aggies (26-8) rallied from a 16-point first-half deficit to win their second consecutive Mountain West Tournament title and earn the conference’s automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.

San Diego State’s Malachi Flynn, the Mountain West’s Player of the Year, had a chance to send the game into overtime but his threepoint shot from just beyond half court rattled in and out at the buzzer.

It was just the second loss of the season for the Aztecs (30-2), and the second consecutive year they fell to Utah State in the tournament championship game.

Neemias Queta scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half for Utah State.

OHIO VALLEY CONFERENCE BELMONT 76, MURRAY STATE 75

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Tyler Scanlon scored 17 points including a layup with three seconds remaining to give top-seeded Belmont a victory over second-seeded Murray State in the championship game of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

Belmont (26-7) won its third OVC conference tournament and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Nick Muszynski scored 25 points to lead the Bruins, and was named the tournament MVP. Adam Kunkel added 16 points and Grayson Murphy had 10.

Tevin Brown scored 17 points for Murray State (239). Demond Robinson had 14 points.

Brown hit two free throws to put the Racers up 75-74 with 11.5 seconds to play. Following timeouts from both teams, Kunkel passed the ball to Scanlon cutting under the basket for the game winner.