San Diego State University’s men’s and women’s basketball teams both qualified for this year’s NCAA March Madness championship tournament.
The Aztec men, accustomed to winning the Mountain West tournament in recent years, were knocked out of championship contention by No. 5 Boise State, 62-52, in the tournament’s quarterfinal round on March 13.
Boise State went on to defeat second-seeded Colorado State, 69- 56, in the tournament title game after upsetting No. 1 New Mexico, 72-69, in the semifinals.
SDSU had entered the 11-team tournament as the No. 4 seed.
The Aztecs had still racked up enough prestige points — breaking into the Top 25 rankings during the season — to receive the No. 11 seed in the South Regional in the single-elimination 64-team playoff extravaganza.
SDSU (21-9) was paired against North Carolina (22-13) in Tuesday’s opening round of the First Four against the Tar Heels, with the winner advancing to face No. 6 Ole Miss (22-11) on Friday.
This is the Aztecs’ fifth consecutive year qualifying for the NCAA tournament.
SDSU entered the First Four at No. 52 in the NCAA NET rankings. By contrast, Big West tournament champion UC San Diego (30-4) entered the week at No. 35.
The top-seeded Tritons defeated No. 2 UC Irvine, 75, 61, in the tournament title game Saturday in Henderson, Nev.
As a bonus, UC San Diego’s women’s team, seeded No. 4, earned a Big West tournament championship after defeating No. 3 UC Davis, 75-66.
The Triton men, owners of a 15-game winning streak (longest active in the nation), received the No. 12 seed in the South regional and were set to meet No. 5 Michigan (25-9) in Thursday’s opener in Denver.
It marked the first time the UC San Diego men had received an invitation to the Division I field.
The Lady Tritons, who are making their inaugural appearance in the Division I NCAA field, carried a 20-15 record into Wednesday’s NCAA tournament opener against Southern (20-14) at UCLA’s legendary Pauley Pavilion.
The UC San Diego-Southern winner advances to meet No. 1 seed UCLA on Friday.
SDSU’s women’s team — newly crowned MW tournament champions — received the No. 14 seed in the Spokane Regional 1 and will tip off play third-seeded LSU on Saturday.
The No. 4-seed Lady Aztecs claimed this year’s MW tourney title with a 72-68 triple overtime win over No. 2 Wyoming on March 12. It marks SDSU’s first MW tournament championship since 2012.
The Lady Aztecs (25-9) defeated fifth-seeded New Mexico and top-seeded UNLV en route to the championship game. SDSU entered the NCAA tournament riding an eight-game win streak.
The MW tournament champ¬onship is the third for the Lady Aztecs, whose 25 victories are the most in one season since winning a school-record 27 in the 2012-13 campaign.
Veronica Sheffey scored a career-high 24 points to go with with six rebounds and five assists en route to being named the tournament’s MVP. Naomi Panganiban chipped in with 17 points and joined Sheffey on the all-tournament team.
Cali Clark, meanwhile, became the only Division I player this century to have a conference tournament game with at least 17 rebounds, six steals and three blocks. Clark also scored 12 points for her seventh double-double of the season.
Kim Villalobos nearly joined Clark with a double-double, scoring 11 points with nine rebounds and four steals.
The game featured 16 lead changes and 12 ties.
PACIFIC COAST ATHLETIC CONFERENCE BASKETBALL
MEN’S STANDINGS
Conference/Overall
San Diego City 15-1, 23-6
MiraCosta 13-3, 20-9
Southwestern 12-4, 20-10
Palomar 10-6, 17-12
San Diego Mesa 8-8, 13-15
Miramar 7-9, 12-16
Cuyamaca 4-12, 9-19
Grossmont 2-14, 2-26
Imperial Valley 1-15, 3-24
WOMEN’S STANDINGS
Conference/Overall
Palomar 14-0, 24-7
Grossmont 11-3, 24-6
San Diego Mesa 9-5, 20-10
Imperial Valley 9-5, 17-12
San Diego City 6-8, 13-15
MiraCosta 3-11, 8-17
Cuyamaca 2-13, 8-17
Southwestern 2-12, 6-22
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MEN’S PLAYOFFS
First Round
(17) Southwestern 90, (16) Santa Monica 70 (9) Chaffey 84, (24/21) Irvine Valley 73 (12/10) San Bernardino Valley 101, (21/24) Palomar 66 (20) Compton 70, (13) MiraCosta 68 (15) Pasadena City 73, (18) Cuesta 57 (10/12) Cypress 82, (23) Cerro Coso 73 (11) Cerritos 79, (22) Saddleback 61 (19) Santa Ana 64, (14) Allan Hancock 48
Quarterfinals
(1) Fullerton 90, (17) Southwestern 70 (9) Chaffey 86, (8) West L.A. 71 (12/10) San Bernardino Valley 104, (5) Santiago Canyon 79 (4) Mt. San Antonio 80, (20) Compton 60 (2) Citrus 80, (15) Pasadena City 75 (10/12) Cypress 81, (7) Moorpark 65 (11) Cerritos (6) San Diego City 65 (3) East L.A. 75, (19) Santa Ana 68
Note: Quarterfinals winners advance to state tournament
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
WOMEN’S PLAYOFFS
First Round
(17) Irvine Valley 59, (16) Antelope Valley 57 (24) L.A. Valley 46, (9) Santa Ana 42 (21) East L.A. 61, (12) Victor Valley 59 (13) San Diego Mesa 63, (20) Cuesta 45 (15) West L.A. 65, (18) Long Beach City 58 (10) Grossmont 71, (23) L.A. trade Tech 60 (11) Santa Barbara City 57, (22) Imperial Valley 52 (14) Fullerton 80, (19) Citrus 47
Quarterfinals
(1) Orange Coast 79, (17) Irvine Valley 55 (8) Cerro Coso 72, (9) L.A. Valley 61 (5) Cypress 80, (21) East L.A. 60 (4) Glendale 58, (13) San Diego Mesa 53 (2) Mt. San Antonio 85, (15) West L.A. 58 (10) Grossmont 67. (7) Mt. San Jacinto 59 (6) Palomar 79, (11) Santa Barbara City 61 (3) Moorpark 79, (14) Fullerton 39
Note: Quarterfinals winners advance to state tournament
CUYAMACA MEN’S
STATISTICAL LEADERS
Scoring: Xavier Rubiio 16.7 ppg, Patrick Brinkman 13.2 ppg, Jonathan Duley 12.6 ppg, Sergio Franso 10.7 ppg, Jamier Sykers 8.9 ppg, A.Z. Simpson 8.4 ppg, Nico Cervantes 7.1 ppg
GROSSMONT MEN’S
STATISTICAL LEADERS
Scoring: Lamont Wilkerson 133 ppg, Tobey Malpaas 8.2 ppg, Gavin Berg 8.2 ppg, Zeid Salem 7.0 ppg, Micah Whitley 6.0 ppg
GROSSMONT WOMEN’S
STATISTICAL LEADERS
Scoring: Kyla Palpallatoc 16.5 ppg, Anayla Anderson 16.1 ppg, Janea Wilson 10.8 ppg, Charlie Dagnino 8.0 ppg, India Pines 7.0 ppg, Kiya Waters 6.7 ppg
CUYAMACA WOMEN’S
STATISTICAL LEADERS
Scoring: Yasmine Sharpe- Shropshire 151, ppg, Shania White 11.1 ppg. Catherine Jordan 10.8 ppg, Micyaah Flournoy 10.2 ppg
