Jerrod Calhoun’s redemption tour is complete.

No. 1 Utah State’s path to the title game included UNLV, which beat the Aggies twice, and Nevada, which beat them once. In Saturday’s Credit Union 1 Mountain West Men’s Basketball Championship final, Utah State looked to bully No. 2 San Diego State, which beat the Aggies by 17 points just a few weeks ago. That’s four of their five conference regular-season losses.

No chance they’d allow a sixth loss. Not to any of these opponents.

No. 2 San Diego State got to this point with its interior defense and an otherworldly ability to limit shots and second chances. The two-headed monster of Magoon Gwath (12 points, eight rebounds on Saturday) and Miles Heide had a lot to do with that, but Heide was a scratch on Saturday with a hand injury.

The Aggies pounced, outscoring the Aztecs in the paint by an unthinkable 46-22.

“You have to match their intensity. We don’t have the physicality, right, the strength, but our guys had heart. Our guys had attention to detail,” Aggies coach Jerrod Calhoun. “There’s a process to win a game. There’s a mental game, there’s a physical game.

“In the hotel, we were locked in. Our guys were very, very locked in for 35, 40 minutes, and they didn’t like the way the game ended at San Diego State in the second half. They embarrassed us, they outplayed us, they out-coached us. Our guys were just not going to let that happen today.”

The Aggies, thanks to a season-defining handful of plays by tournament MVP MJ Collins Jr., pulled away down the stretch from San Diego State, 73-62, to win the Credit Union 1 Mountain West Men’s Basketball Championship title.

After dominant wins in the quarterfinal and semifinal, Utah State became the first team in MW history to win in all three of those rounds by double digits.

“I kind of deem this our redemption tour,” Calhoun said. “UNLV beat us twice, Nevada beat us at Nevada, and obviously got embarrassed a couple weeks ago by the Aztecs. We were coming in here to be the bully, we were coming in here for a redemption tour, and it certainly was accomplished.”

With five minutes to go, Gary Clark rebounded his own miss and put it back in over 7-footer Magoon Gwath to break a chain of back-and-forth, lead-changing buckets that had Thomas & Mack Center bumping.

Then Collins Jr. hammered the nail in his tournament MVP case and ultimately his team’s bid as an MW winner and an NCAA Tournament team.

First, a wing 3 with 5:30 to go put his team up by two possessions for the first time since 17:03 remaining. SDSU hit a pair of free throws before he caught and shot a corner 3 to go up by seven. On that play, Zach Keller was fouled on a screen and made it a five-point play with free throws.

“It made me feel good. I got to chirping a little bit. But just credit to coach — he always tells me to make the right read,” Collins Jr. said. “A great screen by Zach (on the second 3), great pass by Mason and the shot goes down. It’s a big swing because it was a five-point swing right there, Zach goes to the line, hits two free throws. So it was huge.”

Next time down, Collins Jr. faked a 3-pointer and dished a smart alley-oop to Adlan Elamin to put the Aggies up by 11, which was insurmountable in the 4:21 that remained. Collins Jr. finished with 20 points, three rebounds and three steals. The Aggies are 15-0 this season when he scores 20, which is the best record in MW history.

“He’s MVP for a reason. That’s what he does. Whenever we needed a big shot down the stretch, he was ready to take them,” guard Drake Allen, who finished with 13 points, six rebounds and three assists. “We’re very confident putting the ball in his hands. We know he’s going to make big shots. He’s been doing it all year. And we need him to score 20, like Coach said, in the tournament in a couple — a week, I guess. Yeah, it’s a week away.”