Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Basketball Beat Reporter
SJSU men’s basketball (12-8, 3-4 MW) fell one-point shy of defeating Utah State on the road for the first time since the 1982 season, losing on a free-throw attempt by Max Shulga with five seconds left. Alvaro Cardenas missed an open look from three after Shulga missed the second free throw attempt.
“We were able to get going and speed the ball down the floor I thought something good was going to happen,” said SJSU head coach Tim Miles. “I thought Al got a decent look. He just didn’t make it.”
Tibet Görener led the Spartans with a career-best 20 points and six made three pointers, Cardenas finished with 17 points on 4-for-7 shooting from three and obtained four rebounds and dished four assists.
“We really needed him, he provided a huge lift for us. It was good to be able to not have to just solely depend on Omari Moore or whoever, right,” said Miles. “Tibet played an outstanding game tonight.”
Omari Moore had 16 points and led the floor with eight assists, but slipped and turned the ball over on SJSU’s second-to-last possession setting Utah State (16-4, 5-2 MW) up with the ball with 22 seconds left which eventually led to its game-winning free-throw attempt.
SJSU had maintained a lead for a majority of the second half and staved off runs from Utah State after its Steve Ashworth and Shulga drained big threes, as 24 of their combined 34 points came in the second half.
The Aggies went 8-for-13 (61%) from beyond the arc and shot 63% overall in the second half, after shooting 44% in the first half and 2-10 from three to trail the Spartans 37-30 at halftime.
The Spartans dominated on the glass from start to finish outrebounding the Aggies 33-27 and 17-9 on the offensive end while also outscoring the Aggies 20-11 on second chance opportunities.
Sage Tolbert grabbed eight rebounds, Robert Vaihola had seven and Ibrahima Diallo had five as five Spartans hade multiple offensive rebounds, led by the four from Vaihola.
The Spartans held a 70-64 lead with 4:42 remaining, but only scored four points afterwards, missing seven of their next eight shots while allowing Utah Sate to hit four of their next six shots. Ashworth delivered the final blow, sinking a three-pointer with 1:44 left to give Nevada a 74-72 lead and his 16th point of the second half.
SJSU utilized the deep shot to build some of its biggest leads, but failed to hit one in the final 5:36 of the game. Cardenas and Gorener were the only Spartans to have made a three.
Considering the Spartans were ranked 95 spots below Utah State in the NET and has lost nine of its last 10 matchups to the Aggies by an average of 25 points, Saturday afternoon’s nail-biter was a step in the right direction.
“We just didn’t do enough to win so it was certainly disappointing, but we want to be able to challenge these top teams in our league.”
Next up: SJSU looks to bounce back at home against Air Force this Tuesday at 7 p.m. for a one-game home stand before flying south to take on San Diego State next Saturday.