Omari Moore (Photo by Max Bechtoldt)
By Matt Weiner (@MattWeiner20) – MBB Beat Reporter
San Jose State 52 (8-20, MW 1-14) vs San Diego State 77 (18-7, MW 10-4)
The sweet taste of victory lasted less than a week for the Spartans before their palettes were filled with the familiar agony of defeat.
Following the win against New Mexico with a loss to March Madness-hopeful San Diego State isn’t anything for the Spartans to hang their heads low about. It’s like going from building the Millenium Falcon with legos to working for SpaceX.
The Spartans were putting in a good fight early on, trailing 13-17 the first seven minutes of the game. From there, the Aztecs slowly built a comfortable 11-point lead at the half that developed into at least 15 for the majority of the second half.
The Aztecs lived up to their ranking as the second most efficient defense in the country by holding the Spartans to 52 points, one game removed from scoring 71.
The majority of the destruction came from the Aztecs putting on a deathly full court press and heavy defensive pressure around the perimeter.
“They were on the attack and it got us off kilter,” said SJSU head coach Tim Miles.
Miles also felt that the Aztecs were able to build off of their crowd going bonkers and parlay it into more success on the court.
“This atmosphere is really good for the home team and really difficult for the road team,” said Miles.
Some of the score is a byproduct of SDSU having a stronger personnel, while some of it is the Spartans getting caught with their pants down.
The play above, shows SJSU’s Shon Robinson throwing a lackadaisical ho-hum pass to Tibet Gorener that’s picked off by SDSU’s Chad Baker-Mazarah for an easy dunk. It’s about as unforgivable as when you lend someone your airpods and find it riddled with ear wax.
Baker-Mazarah was one of four Aztecs ending in double figures, with a team leading 16 points.
Omari Moore followed up his first triple-double, third in program history, by scoring 20 points, including 12 in the first half.
Moore did an excellent job finding space when there isn’t much to begin with. It’s like watching Davante Adams carve DB’s on 3rd-and-goal from the three yard line.
“He’s establishing himself as a legitimate top player in our league [Mountain West],” said Miles.
The defining kicker of the evening will be the wretched 2 of 19 shooting from three, that included an 0 of 13 performance in the second half.
“More than anything, they were committed to us not making a three,” said Miles.
Miles attributed some of this to the heavy pressure early in possessions that led to the Spartans shooting with a few seconds remaining on the clock on looks that aren’t particularly wanted.
A 25-point loss following a 15-point win to snap a 14-game losing streak is a nice love tap to bring you back to Earth.
As always, you stay classy San Diego.