By Aaron Johnson (@voz_aaron1) – Spear Reporter
photo by Andrew Hartley – The Spear
SJSU head coach Tim Miles threw his clipboard down in frustration after Boise State tied the game. San Jose State once again squandered a first-half lead as the score now sat 68-68.
“I thought for a long time tonight we played pretty good basketball, we just couldn’t sustain it,” Miles said. “We just (kept getting chipped away at) and finally the tree fell.”
The Spartans(7-8, 0-2 MW) would go on to not register a field goal for the final five minutes and lose 78-69 to the Broncos(10-4, 1-0 MW).
Junior guard Myron Amey Jr. had a monster first half dropping 25 points, including a stretch where he got the SJSU offense rolling by making three consecutive three-point attempts. He was the only Spartan able to find a rhythm from the field and the main reason why San Jose State pulled away to a 40-33 first-half lead.
No other Spartan had more than four points in the first half.
Boise State started doubling Amey Jr. in the second half, limiting his good looks from the field. Unfortunately for the Spartans, no one else could take over as the lead scorer.
Outside of Amey Jr., SJSU shot 2-for-17 from three-point range. Amey Jr. would finish the game with 30 points and led the team with six rebounds.
San Jose State has now lost two straight games where it looked like they were the better team in the first half.
“It’s the same thing almost every game that’s why it kinda hurts,” Amey Jr. said. “But (we know) that we can play with the best in the country (…) that’s why you see every game we fight and we compete.”
Boise State was able to chip away at the lead by dominating the Spartans in the paint.
Junior forward O’Mar Stanley had 30 points on the game and was a problem for SJSU all night. Stanley’s physical scoring in the paint and late-game clutch free throws were what pushed the Broncos past the Spartan defense.
“At Wyoming, it was our perimeter defense that let us down and tonight it was our interior defense,” Miles said. “What do we depend on? That’s a frustrating problem for me as a coach and it’s finding it hard to solve.”
Senior forward Trey Anderson had a straight to the point answer on what they needed to improve on: “We got to be more physical inside.”
Anderson, now playing in his second game back from a knee injury, was the team’s second-leading scorer with 13 points.
Anderson spoke on where he is right now in terms of his knee injury.
“I’m good, I’m 100%,” Anderson said. “Whatever coach needs I’m going to go out there and do it.”
San Jose State will have to try and bounce back against San Diego State(12-2, 1-0 MW), a team that went to the final in March Madness last season.
SJSU will play San Diego State January 9 at home at 8 p.m.