San Diego State was down by as many 14 points Saturday in its Final Four game against ninth-seeded Florida Atlantic. Without key shots from Matt Bradley to open the game and late in the contest, the Aztecs might be headed home instead of staying an extra couple nights in Houston.

SDSU is headed to its first national championship game after defeating FAU in the Final Four and Bradley stepped up in a big way for the Aztecs by finishing the night with 21 points and 6 rebounds in a game-high 32 minutes.

He sparked SDSU to a 9-point lead early in the game before helping the team climb back from a 14-point deficit in the second half eventually leading to Lamont Butler's game-winning jump shot in the 72-71 win at NRG Stadium.

Bradley scored 10 points in the final 13 minutes of the game including hitting seven key free throws over the final stretch to help keep SDSU within striking distance.

"I had two bad shooting performances these last couple of games," he said. "And I just got back in the gym. My teammates were encouraging me, my coaches. Spent some time praying, doing what I need to get right. I trust myself, most importantly. I'm thankful I was in the position to come through."

Bradley averaged just 6 points over the previous three games for San Diego State, but head coach Brian Dutcher continued to have faith in his standout senior to eventually figure things out on the offensive side of the floor.

"I put on the board again: Be fearless," Dutcher said. "And he was fearless. He was going to shoot himself into this game. The first one went in. That always makes you feel good to see the first one go in, and then he got rolling.

"He's a dangerous offensive player. He can create his own shot. And he's a very good passer too. It was good to see Matt rolling."

It was one of the best all-around performances for the 6-foot-4 guard, who began his career at Cal. Bradley has scored at least 20 points in just four games this season, but he has not reached that mark in three months.

He last scored at least 20 points back on Dec. 31 when he had 23 on the road against UNLV.

That he was able to break that threshold in what was the biggest game in program history is potentially a great sign for the final test of the season coming up Monday night.

"We were just motivated," he said. "We'd been in that position so many times throughout the year. We've always been knocked down. But the biggest thing we always do is get back up and keep fighting.

"We have a lot of maturity on this team. That was nothing to us. We knew we had time on our side. We just got together and fought back, and I'm really proud of our guys."

The Aztecs will play for their first basketball national title Monday at NRG Stadium in Houston against either UConn or Miami.