By Aaron Johnson (@voz_aaron1) – Senior Staff Writer
Alvaro Cardenas prepares to take a free throw. I Photo by Andrew Hartley – The Spear
San Jose State men’s basketball (9-23, 2-16 MW) battled hard against Colorado State (22-9, 10-8 MW) but in the end, the Rams were able to pull ahead 72-62 advance to round two of the Mountain West Tournament.
“The thing about this team is they haven’t had a break all season, injury, illness, you name it,” SJSU head coach Tim Miles said. “To see them battle tonight I can be very proud to be their coach.”
The Spartans were able to showcase the talent they plan on developing next season during the loss.
Spartans’ junior guard Myron Amey Jr. had a great game to cap off his breakout season. Amey Jr. scored 17 points and hit two big and-one shots in the first half.
Amey Jr. was providing the energy on the game constantly firing up the bench and was a big reason SJSU were the favor early on.
“It would of been easy to look at our record and let that define us,” Amey Jr. said. “I tell people all the time when I talk about our team that it doesn’t define us, whatever team you put out there we’ll go to the end with them.”
Early in the first half, the Spartans were playing great defense and forcing the Rams into sloppy passes.
It was this early burst of defensive energy that allowed SJSU to get out to a 25-19 lead. But the Spartans’ defense broke down and the offense could not get a bucket as the Rams would go on a 15-0 run to completely swing momentum in their favor.
It would be a tough task to keep a team like Colorado State down for as long as the Spartans did, but the outcome of the game would rely on how SJSU would respond after letting up such a run.
The Spartans would respond well in the second half but some timely 3-point shooting from Colorado State fifth-year guard Joe Palmer that would push the Rams ahead.
Palmer scored 14 points in the game including shooting four for five from downtown.
“We just felt we needed more pressure (on defense),” Miles said. “They still shot well but I thought we took away a lot of opportunities and they never really got on a roll.”
Graduate student forward Joel Scott was a problem for the Spartans as he put up 18 points for the game with many of them being momentum swinging dunks.
The Rams held a 58-56 scored late in the second half. With the opportunity to tie the game, a controversial no call on a missed layup by freshman guard Latrell Davis was not called for goaltending.
Miles was visibly frustrated after the play.
“It can go one way or another that’s a tough call,” Miles said. “Did I think it was the wrong call? Of course.”
Junior guard Alvaro Cardenas was the Spartans top scorer as he dropped 18 points while also leading the team with nine rebounds.
Davis added valuable minutes off the bench coming in and scoring 16 points. For Davis, this performance was a nice cap off to a season where he proved that he will be a valuable piece to the Spartans next season.
“Latrell (Davis) is all go and that’s what we need him to be,” Amey Jr. said. “When he has the mindset to attack and be aggressive on both sides of the floor, he does great things for us.”
A disappointing season draws to a conclusion for the Spartans, but the team will have at least some positives to look at headed into the 2024-25 season.
“I’m proud of how the team competed,” Cardenas said. “I think it was one of the most complete games of the season in terms of effort and intensity.”