LAS VEGAS -- New Mexico won the Mountain West Conference tournament the last two seasons, and the Lobos werent prepared to let the title go. Audie Cole . Trailing by one with a little more than a minute left, Cameron Bairstow scored five of the Lobos last eight points to help 20th-ranked New Mexico win its third consecutive tournament title, with a 64-58 victory over No. 8 San Diego State in Saturdays championship game. Bairstow finished with 17 points, and the victory gives the Lobos the automatic berth into the NCAA tournament. The 6-foot-9 senior forward was named tournament MVP after averaging 20.3 points per game and 9.0 rebounds per game. "In the regular season San Diego State was the best team," Bairstow said. "I think in this tournament, we were the best team. (The MVP trophy) could have gone to a number of players, the guys sitting next to me. It wasnt about proving a point. You just got to understand its all about team success. Thats what it is. All the accolades that come off that are a bonus. At the end of the day its all based on team success." The No. 2 seed in the Mountain West tournament is now 6-0 all-time when playing the No. 1 seed. "I got terrific kids, a terrific team thats believed in me, taking over a team that won back to back regular season and tournament championships," said first-year New Mexico coach Craig Neal. "This is our third one. Its very special to me." It didnt come easy against the conferences No. 1 defence, as New Mexico (27-6) had its five-point halftime lead disappear when the Aztecs opened the second half on an 8-0 run, to take a 30-27 lead. Trailing 56-49 with 2:34 left in the game, the Aztecs went on an 8-0 run to go up one with 1:21 remaining. The run was culminated when Winston Shepard stole an inbounds pass, dished to Dwayne Polee II for a slam dunk. Polee was fouled and converted the three-point play. With momentum seemingly shifted, Bairstow took over, driving on Josh Adams for a lay-in while drawing the foul. Bairstow converted the three-point play to give the Lobos the lead again. Polees layup attempt at the other end didnt fall, Bairstow rebounded with 51 seconds left and Kendall Williams made a 3-pointer 30 seconds later to seal the win. Williams added 16 points for the Lobos and moved up to No. 5 all-time on New Mexicos career scoring list with 1,794 points, while Greenwood had 12. "I think the timing of it was more fortunate for us this time," Williams said. "Last game they timed it just right and we didnt have an answer for it. This time they punched us in the mouth to start (the second half), and we were able to respond throughout the half. That was the big difference." After shooting 34.8 per cent (8 of 23) from the field in the first half, the Lobos were 10 of 21 from the floor in the second half, including 4 of 9 from long-range. And despite having one of the more formidable frontcourts in the nation, led by Bairstow, San Diego State outscored the Lobos in the paint, 24-18. The Aztecs also outscored New Mexico off turnovers, 21-8, and with bench points, 16-4. In a game that featured 10 ties and 12 lead changes, New Mexicos seven point advantage at the 2:34 mark was the largest lead of the game. "This was a tremendously hard fought game between two very good basketball teams," San Diego State coach Steve Fisher said. "Were disappointed that we didnt get the opportunity to cut the nets down. But were proud of what weve done and how weve done it. "We competed from wire to wire, and we just didnt quite have enough to finish. But if we continue to play that way, well have a chance to be playing after the first weekend of the NCAA tournament. Thats our goal now." San Diego State (29-4) got a team-high 15 points from Xavier Thames, the leagues regular-season player of the year. Thames also had three assists while once again committing just one turnover. For the tournament, Thames had 16 assists versus a mere three turnovers. Joining Bairstow, Williams, Polee, and Thames on the 2014 all-tournament team was New Mexicos Alex Kirk. Everson Griffen . -- Patriots nose tackle Vince Wilfork says hes closer to achieving his goal of finishing his career with New England.Jarius Wright .500 at home and .500 overall (16-16-5). The win also snapped Floridas winning streak at five games. Jets are 10-4-1 vs.JERSEY CITY, N.J. - The captain was a few minutes late, though no one seemed to mind. Russell Wilson is usually worth the wait, and no more than on this day, his final one speaking about the game before he actually plays The Game. Peyton Manning is supposed to be the star of this Super Bowl, but a minor league second baseman who refused to listen to those who said he was too small to play quarterback in the NFL may have something to say about that. Proving people wrong is almost as fun for Wilson as winning football games, and hes done both with great regularity since being drafted with the 75th overall pick two years ago by the Seattle Seahawks. "For all the kids that have been told, no, that they cant do it, or all the kids that will be told no," Wilson said. "Thats one of the reasons that I left playing baseball, to be honest with you. I had this urge to play the game of football, because so many people — I shouldnt say so many, a handful of people — said I couldnt do it. Richard Sherman will be the player most remembered from the win that got Seattle here. But if not for a gutsy play on an equally gutsy call, the Seahawks would not be in position to win their first Super Bowl title. Wilson found Jermaine Kearse in the end zone for the touchdown on a fourth down against San Francisco in the NFC championship game, giving the Seahawks the lead for the first time. It was the kind of play a veteran star like Manning might make when it counts most. The kind of play Wilson prepared for meticulously every day for the past two years. The kind of play that can win a Super Bowl. "I dont think Ive seen too many people have the knack to want be great. He wants to be a great quarterback," receiver Percy Harvin said. "He just doesnt want to be average or All-Pro. He wants to be talked about as a great quarterback and I dont think hes going to stop until he does." By now, Wilsons story is fairly well known. The son of the late Harrison Wilson III — a star athlete at Dartmouth who became a lawyer after briefly thinking of trying out for the NFL in 1977 — he lost a job as starting quarterback at North Carolina State while playing second base in the Colorado Rockies organization. Wilson would give up baseball to star as a graduate student at Wisconsin, leading the Badgers to the Big 10 title and a spot in the Rose Bowl. But he was undersized at 5-foot-11 and languished in the NFL draft before Pete Carroll and the Seahawks took a chance on him for what was expected to bee a backup quarterback position. Harrison Smith. Instead, Carroll called him to the basketball court at the teams complex prior to his rookie season, where Wilson watched him shoot jumpers. "I go outside and he said, You want to shoot? " Wilson said. "Then he said, We want you to know youre going to be the starting quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks, hopefully for a long time. "That put a huge smile on my face. I immediately thought of my mom and dad and all the things theyve done for me and all the discipline they gave me." That discipline is evident in the way Wilson approaches his job as both the quarterback and leader of his team. Like all quarterbacks he watches film, but Wilson is constantly studying situations and is relentless about fixing mistakes. "He makes everyone around him almost a perfectionist because we pick up off that and the habits that he has," said receiver Ricardo Lockette. "He is always the first one there in the morning and the last one to leave." Those habits helped propel the Seahawks to an 11-5 record last season behind their rookie QB. They beat the Washington Redskins in the first round of the playoffs, then lost a shootout to Atlanta that had Wilson down in the dumps — if only for a moment. By the time he was in the tunnel going back to the locker room he had already begun thinking what he had to do in the off-season to get the Seahawks over the hump this year. "I want to change the game and theres a difference between being good and being great and changing the game," Wilson said. "Guys like Peyton Manning change the game in terms of the way he thinks and in terms of the way he processes things. Tom Brady is the same way, hes so clutch that people fear him. One day I want to evolve to that." Wilson can take a big step in that direction should he join an elite group of quarterbacks (Brady, Kurt Warner and Ben Roethlisberger) who have won a Super Bowl in just their second year. Hes certainly not overwhelmed by the moment, and seems to embrace the challenge, even when it comes to answering the same questions over and over during the pregame buildup. A great believer in visualization, he already sees himself on the field at the Meadowlands, is already trying to figure out how to feel when the national anthem is sung and the stadium erupts in flashes for the kickoff. "Then it will be, OK, Im ready to go," Wilson said. If he is, there may be more than one quarterback star in this Super Bowl. ' ' '
