Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Basketball Beat Reporter
SJSU men’s basketball (12-6, 3-2 MW) snapped its 11game losing streak to Fresno State and first two losing game skid of the season with a dominant 74-64 victory. For SJSU it’s well-earned vengeance for last year’s heart-breaking overtime loss in the Mountain West tournament.
“Alvaro Cardenas actually said these are the guys that ended our season last year and that’s the way they looked at it,” said SJSU head coach Tim Miles. “I didn’t make a big deal about it as a coach, but it was a big deal to the guys.”
Alvaro Cardenas went for a career-best 20 points and dished a career-best nine assists, while Omari Moore finished with 15 points and was just behind Cardenas with eight assists. Both guards played all 40 minutes.
“I just got to keep trusting my shot and the work that I put in,” said Cardenas, who was held scoreless in the prior game against Nevada.
It’s a breath of fresh air for the 2,084 Spartan fans in attendance who witnessed Fresno State (6-10, 2-3 MW) throttle SJSU 73-43 when the teams met last year at Provident Credit Union Event Center. It was the third-fewest points the Bulldogs have ever allowed in a conference game.
“Every win feels good and you try not to personalize things,” SJSU head coach Tim Miles said, “but we haven’t beat Fresno State since 2017 I think and it’s hard to have a rivalry when you never beat your rival.”
But on Tuesday night Spartans never trailed for a second and led by as much as 16 in the contest.
It was a pleasant bounce back game for SJSU after they suffered a 67-40 defeat at home against Nevada last Saturday that saw a 25-0 run from the Wolf Pack to end the first half. They turned the ball over 20 times and allowed 14 offensive rebounds.
“Two hard practices after getting your butt kicked and having to go through a film session that lasts forever I think is an incentive,” said Miles.
SJSU righted their previous offensive woes against Nevada by shooting 54% from the field and went 8-for 17 (47%) from beyond the arc in the first half to finish the game 12-for-29 (41%) on Tuesday night.
Cardenas led SJSU men’s basketball with six threes, Moore had three and Sage Tolbert and Tibet Gorener each had one apiece. Tolbert finished with 12 points and six boards.
Fresno State-transfer Robert Vaihola shined in his first matchup against the Bulldogs since transferring to SJSU this past offseason. He finished with 12 points on 6-for-7 shooting, was second on the team with seven rebounds behind Diallo’s eight boards, and led SJSU with a plus minus of 17 in just 19 minutes.
“I think with the way things ended at Fresno this was big for Rob [Vaihola],” said Moore. “It was really important for him to come out and win this game and show the people on that side what he can do.”
While SJSU’s victory came with ease, Fresno State did make things interesting by cutting the Spartans 13-point lead down to just four with 5:48 left in the game after a dunk from Eduardo Andre, who finished second on the Bulldogs with 15 points, and Donavan Yap went on a 7-0 run by himself.
Fears of a blown lead were quelled when Cardenas followed the Bulldogs’ surge with a drained three, got a steal on the next possession and found Gorener for a breezy, wide-open dunk in transition. The final nail came when Vaihola finished at the rim with a crafty to lay up, putting SJSU up 67-56.
“Hopefully this can kickstart and spice up the Fresno State San Jose State men’s basketball matchup,” said Miles.
Next up: The Spartans will have a week off following the loss/win before squaring off against New Mexico.