DENVER (Ticker) -- Danny Granger helped take New Mexico's fate
out of the hands of the NCAA Tournament committee.
Granger scored a season-high 28 points and grabbed 11 rebounds
to lead New Mexico to its first Mountain West Conference
tournament championship with a 60-56 victory over No. 15 Utah.
In winning their ninth consecutive contest, the Lobos (26-6)
became the sixth different school to win the MWC tournament
title and will play in their first NCAA Tournament since 1999.
The victory also means New Mexico won't need to depend on an
at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Lobos would not have
been a lock because of a strength-of-schedule ranking of 316.
After Utah used a 9-2 run, highlighted by six points from MWC
Player of the Year Andrew Bogut, New Mexico took the lead for
good when Alfred Neale made a dunk and David Chiotti followed
with a jumper with 2:35 to go for a 52-49 advantage.
Utah's Marc Jackson sank a pair of foul shots, Granger scored
the final eight points to wrap up the Lobo's second straight
victory over the Runnin' Utes.
Utah held New Mexico without a basket for a 6 1/2 minute stretch
of the first half and capped a 12-0 run with a 3-pointer by
Jonas Langvad to take a 17-11 lead with 9:02 remaining before
the break. But Granger, who posted his 12th double-double,
scored 13 of the Lobos' last 19 first-half points, including the
final five, as New Mexico forged a 30-24 edge at intermission.
The 6-8 senior had 18 points in the first half.
Bogut scored 19 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for his 23rd
double-double - tops in the nation - for Utah (27-5), which lost
for the second time in 24 games. Both losses were to New
Mexico.