By Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20)— MBB Beat Reporter
UNLV was seven minutes away from tying the bow on a win that was met with little difficulty while San Jose State was itching to leave the building Monday night.
The game had reached “garbage time,” which is the part of a ball game when the final result is nearly concrete and coaches make substitutions to make sure starters don’t get injured during minutes that are regarded as meaningless.
For Myron “MJ” Amey jr. It was an opportunity to grab the keys to the offense and put the pedal to the medal.
Provident Credit Union Event Center registered the same volume as a doctors office waiting room up until Amey went on a remarkable 11-0 run by himself.
The squeaks from players’ sneakers heard all night were momentarily drowned out by emphatic claps from Spartan fans as a result of Amey’s avalanche of points.
A divine paranormal spirit took hold of Amey and propelled him to score 16 second-half points. This spirit according to Amey was one simple word.
Focus.
“My mom said something like there was this picture that one of her friends took when they were watching on TV they were ‘like you just looked so focused.’”
The focus was that of a trained assailant who knew nothing else in the world mattered besides what was in front of him. Reaching that state of the mind is a constant work in progress.
“It starts in practice of course, where I’m locked in and focused and it translates to the game where I don’t have to work on getting focused,” Amey said, “I’m already there.”
The first year player from Vacaville, Cali is in a potentially fruitful predicament.
San Jose State has lost three games in a row in blowout fashion to open up Mountain West play which has given substitute players like Amey a free space to operate in. He can be the center of attention and not just a role player who sets screens in order to get good looks for starters like Omari Moore and Trey Anderson. Blowouts also mean that rotational adjustments must be made as well.
“He’s gonna get somebody’s minute,” said first-year SJSU head coach Tim Miles, chuckling. “He plays with gratefulness in his heart … that’s the mark of a player I admire.”
A fireplug is needed for the Spartans and Monday night wasn’t the first time Amey showed he could answer that bell.
On Jan. 8 against Bethesda, Amey put up a career-high 32 points on 5-9 shooting from three.
Granted it wasn’t against a Division I opponent, but there is writing on the wall that Amey’s lethal shooting and tenacity can alleviate stresses that currently plague the team.
Opportunity is knocking on Amey’s front door, the question now is will he answer.