San Jose State Reserve Makes Winning Shot

San Jose State became the lowest-seeded team to win the Big West Conference tournament with a 76-75 overtime victory over Utah State in the championship game in front of 3,869 Sunday at the Lawlor Events Center.

A three-point basket by reserve forward/center Rich Taylor with five seconds left in overtime was the difference for San Jose (13-16). Utah State attempted a game-winning shot, but forward Silas Mills’ errant toss came after the buzzer sounded.

“The final play wasn’t supposed to go to me, it was supposed to go to Olivier [Saint-Jean],” said Taylor, who has only three three-point baskets in his career. “But he wasn’t open, so I shot it--and thank God it went in.”

The Spartans, seeded last in the six-team field, won three consecutive games to earn the Big West’s automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. San Jose is seeded 16th in the Midwest Regional and plays top-seeded Kentucky (28-2) in the first round Thursday at Dallas.

Saint-Jean scored 80 points in three tournament games, 68 of them coming in the second half, and was selected the most valuable player. He scored all 27 of his points Sunday in the second half after playing only three minutes in the first half because of foul trouble. He scored 24 of his 26 points in the second half of a 71-67 victory Saturday night over UC Irvine.

“He’s the 20-Minute Man,” Spartan Coach Stan Morrison said. “He gets more out of 20 minutes than anyone else out there.”

San Jose is the lone team with a losing record to win the Big West tournament. No team seeded lower than fourth has ever been conference champion. The Spartans are moving to the Western Athletic Conference at the end of the academic year.

“This is an unbelievable emotional experience for me and my family,” Morrison said.

Utah State (18-15) was seeded fourth. Mills, also selected to the all-tournament team, led the Aggies with 23 points, 11 rebounds and six assists.

Irvine’s Raimonds Miglinieks, the nation’s assist leader who scored 19 points and had seven assists in the Anteaters’ 71-67 loss to San Jose late Saturday night, was named to the all-tournament team.