Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Basketball Beat Reporter
Omari Moore went for 26 points helping guide SJSU (13-8, 4-4 MW) to its most conference wins since the 2016-17 season with a 82-52 victory over Air Force. He was both efficient and aggressive, going 9-for-15 from the field, 6-for-6 from the line while dishing out a team-leading six assists.
“In the last couple games I’ve been falling in love with the three too much,” said Moore, who was 2-for-14 from deep in SJSU’s previous two games. “So I’m just getting back to what I’m really good at. Getting to the rim and creating for others.”
The 30-point blowout for the Spartans was their largest margin of victory in a Mountain West game of all time and comes just days after a brutal last-second defeat against Utah State last Saturday.
“It kind’ve looked like they were on a mission to get that bad tase out of their mouth,” said Miles.
Fresno State-transfer Robert Vaihola went for a career-high 18 points, 10 total rebounds, four offensive rebounds and recorded his second double-double of his career. His last double-double came against Bethesda in SJSU’s second game of the season.
“Really I just knew they were switching a lot and I was going to end up with smaller guys on me ad just had to make sure we took advantage of that,” said Vaihola.
A lay up from Vaihola put SJSU up 14-12 with 13:32 left in the first half and SJSU continued to build their lead after that. They ended the first half on an 18-7 run to go up 46-31 as Moore scored the final bucket with four seconds left to finish the first half with 19 points.
The Spartans dominated the glass and out rebounded the Falcons 37-21. Sage Tolbert pitched in eight boards and finished with nine points.
Air Force entered as one of 10 teams nationwide to have not allowed 80 points to a single opponent this year. The Spartans erased that stat by controlling the game down low, outscoring the Falcons 52-26 in the paint and 16-3 on second chance points.
Alvaro Cardenas scored 12 points on 2-for-4 shooting from three as the Spartans finished 5-14 from beyond the arc. Moore pitched in a couple threes and Tibet Görener had a triple as well, finishing with seven points.
Moore, Cardenas and Vaihola each finished with a plus minus of at least 32 and SJSU finished plus 2 in the turnover margin. They’re still second-last nationwide in that category with a -4.1 mark, however.
A Tolbert dunk gave SJSU a 60-34 lead at the 13:12 mark and they led by at least 26 points for the rest of the entire game.
The Spartans defense was just as superb as their offense, holding Air Force to a 38.8% clip from the field and a 4-for-22 mark from three.
“What a great crowd. Whether it be our local fans, our students, or so many of our student athletes were there which was super cool to see,” said Miles. “I think that really energizes our guys, too.”
Next up: The Spartans head down to Viejas Arena to play against San Diego State this Saturday at 6 p.m..