Mountain West Tournament recap: Colorado State leaves no doubt, clinches NCAA Tournament bid

For the second time in nine days, the Boise State men’s basketball team ran into the buzzsaw that is Colorado State.

The second-seeded Rams blasted No. 5 Boise State, 69-56, in Saturday’s Mountain West Tournament championship game at Thomas & Mack Center to secure an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. It was the surging Rams’ 10th consecutive victory.

“This is just surreal,” Colorado State head coach Niko Medved said after the game. “This is why you coach. … It’s an incredible story of reliance and staying with it.”

In last Friday’s regular-season finale, Colorado State pulled away in the second half for an 83-73 victory in Boise. The Rams are 3-0 against Boise State this season.

Colorado State senior guard Nique Clifford earned MWC Tournament Most Valuable Player honors after averaging 25 points, 10.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists over three games in Las Vegas. Clifford, who torched the Broncos for a career-high 36 points last week, finished Saturday’s game with 24 points, six rebounds and three assists.

Ethan Morton added 11 points off the bench for the Rams (25-9), who claimed their first MWC Tournament title since 2003.

Tyson Degenhart paced Boise State (24-10) with 22 points and seven rebounds. Degenhart was the Broncos’ lone representative on the all-tournament team, joining Colorado State’s Clifford and Kyan Evans and New Mexico’s Donovan Dent and Nelly Junior Joseph.

Entering Saturday, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi had five MWC teams included in his field of 68: Nine seed New Mexico (26-7), 10 seed Utah State (26-7), 11 seed Colorado State, 11 seed San Diego State (21-9) and 12 seed Boise State. Lunardi projected the Rams as the automatic qualifier and had Boise State and San Diego State among the last four teams in.

“What remains to be seen is if Saturday night’s MWC loser remains in the field as an at-large (quite possibly not, pending other bid stealers),” Lunardi wrote.

Lunardi had Indiana, North Carolina, Texas and Dayton as the first four teams out. All four have been eliminated from their respective conference tournaments.

The Broncos will learn their NCAA Tournament fate Sunday when the selection show airs at 4 p.m. Mountain time on CBS. Boise State has reached the NCAA Tournament in each of the last three seasons.

A record six MWC teams made the NCAA Tournament last year: Boise State, Colorado State, Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego State and Utah State. The Aggies were the regular-season champion and New Mexico claimed the tournament title.

Here are the complete game results for the 2025 MWC Tournament.