By Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) — MBB Beat Reporter
San Jose State bites the dust against Wyoming and has now opened up conference play with four consecutive losses.
The Cowboys won 84-69, but there was a glimpse of hope that the Spartans would pull off the upset with the game knotted up at 55 with 11:40 left.
In the blink of an eye the Cowboys went on a 7-0 run coming off of five points from Brendan Wenzel and a thunderous dunk from Nick Reynolds. Nothing but smooth sailing after that as they maintained a double-digit lead for the last 7 minutes of the game.
San Jose State stumbled upon some luck with Cowboys’ big man virtuoso Graham Ike ruled as a late scratch. With Ike out the Spartans did find more success in the paint than the previous game against UNLV.
“I thought we were a little grittier and a little tougher,” said SJSU head coach Tim Miles.
Omari Moore led the squad with 15 points and had many instances where he was driving down the lane with a reckless abandon for humanity while keeping a cool psyche.
Then there was Shon Robinson throwing down dunks into the Earth’s core when defenders forgot about his existence in the pick and roll.
Robinson’s 14 points were good for second on the team and was a harbinger that the Spartans aren’t just limited to what they can do from beyond the arc.
With turnovers cut nearly in half from the previous game when SJSU had 19 against UNLV, the Spartans managed to play a cleaner brand of basketball.
“Wyoming felt us,” said Miles.
But the pressure turned Wyoming into diamonds.
Drake Jeffries at one point in the first half was unconscious hitting five 3-pointers in a row.
Then there was Hunter Maldonado who led all players on the court with 20 points and 12 assists.
When the dust settled, it became clear that the Spartans inability to guard the three was the true dagger in their hopes of curbing their losing streak on Wednesday. It will always be difficult to edge out a team that goes 13/26 from beyond the arc.
“They’re an elite 3-point shooting team,” said Miles.
The Spartans took a step in the right direction tonight, but at some point steps in the right direction have to turn into W’s in the win column.