2021 Air Force Reserve Mountain West Championship Semifinal
No. 5 Nevada (16-9) vs. No. 1 San Diego State (21-4)
Friday, March 12, 2021 - 6:30 p.m.
Las Vegas, Nev. - Thomas and Mack Center
TV: CBS Sports Network (PxP: Andrew Catalon, Analyst: Steve Lappas)
Radio: ESPN 94.5 FM (PxP: John Ramey, Analyst: Len Stevens)

LAS VEGAS - Nevada (16-9, 10-7 MW), the No. 5 seed at the 2021 Air Force Reserve Mountain West Championship continues play in Friday's semifinal against No. 1 San Diego State (21-4).

Friday's contest will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network, with Andrew Catalon and Steve Lappas on the call. The game will also be broadcast in Reno on ESPN Radio 94.5 FM with John Ramey calling the action.

UP NEXT
A win Friday will send the Wolf Pack into Saturday's championship game on CBS Sports Network. The second semifinal features No. 2 Utah State taking on No. 3 Colorado State.

SCOUTING SAN DIEGO STATE
San Diego State (21-4), the top seed in the Mountain West Tournament, enters Friday's semifinal on a 12-game winning streak, most recently defeating Wyoming, 69-66, in quarterfinal action.

The Aztecs are led by the play of Mountain West Player of the Year Matt Mitchell (15.4 ppg, 5.5 rpg), and second-team All-Mountain West pick Jordan Schakel (14.4 ppg, 4.2 rpg).

SERIES WITH SAN DIEGO STATE
San Diego State leads the all-time series against the Pack, 21-6, and has won eight of the last nine meetings after sweeping this season's two-game series from Jan. 7-9. The Pack is winless in three all-time meetings with the Aztecs at the Mountain West Tournament, with all three coming in the semifinals (2016, 2018, 2019).

QUARTERFINAL RECAP
Nevada's "Big Three" of Grant Sherfield, Desmond Cambridge, Jr., and Warren Washington combined for 75 points and shot 59 percent as the Pack rolled past No. 4 Boise State, 89-82, in Thursday's Mountain West Championship quarterfinal.

Cambridge, Jr. set his Nevada career high with 31 points on 11-of-19 shooting, including a 4-for-8 showing from deep. The redshirt junior guard scored 13 of Nevada's first 17 points, including the game's opening bucket as the Pack led wire-to-wire.

Sherfield continued his mastery over Boise State, scoring 26 points for his third 20-point performance against the Broncos in as many games this year. The Mountain West Newcomer of the Year was a perfect 3-for-3 from deep and went 8-for-14 from the field.

Washington matched his career best with 18 points on 8-for-13 shooting, and posted his third double-double of the season, adding 11 rebounds.

Nevada hit nine 3-pointers in a wild opening half in which the teams shot a combined 61.8 percent, taking a 51-45 lead into the break.

DYNAMIC DUO
Nevada can, in fact, make a strong claim to the Mountain West's top newcomer duo of guards Grant Sherfield and Desmond Cambridge, Jr.

Together, the Sherfield-Cambridge, Jr. combo accounted for nearly half of Nevada's scoring offense in conference play, combining to score 34.6 of the Pack's 73.8 points per game (46.9 percent). The duo made 46.8 percent of the Pack's field goals (197 of 421) and 56.1 percent of the team's 3-pointers (74 of 132).

In Thursday's quarterfinal win over Boise State, the pair combined to score 57 of the Pack's 89 points, and together went 19-for-33

Cambridge, Jr., finished tied for fourth in the Mountain West with 44 3-pointers made in conference play, and ranked sixth in scoring (16.4 ppg) at the end of the regular season. With Sherfield leading the Mountain West in conference-only scoring among all players, Nevada was one of two teams (along with UNLV) to have two players in the Mountain West's scoring top 10 at the end of the regular season.