By Aaron Johnson (@voz_aaron1) – Spear Reporter (photo by Kalkidan Tessema – Spear Photographer)
San Jose State (0-3) lost 80-69 to Hawaii (2-0) in the team’s second game of the Outrigger Rainbow Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii.
A second half collapse caused the Spartans to fall in this contest.
In the first half the Spartans shot 5-8 from 3-point range, a large contrast to how the 3-point shooting was through the first two games as the Spartans shot 6-35 from downtown coming into this game.
The Spartans had the lead in the first half but in the second half they moved away from the deep ball, only taking four attempts and making one of them. The Rainbow Warriors outscored the Spartans 46-31 in the second half.
A big problem for the Spartans was graduate student center Tanner Christensen who scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Christensen also scored three and-one slams that helped spark momentum for the Rainbow Warriors.
Spartans graduate student guard Donovan Yap Jr. led the team with 16 points and shot 3-4 from 3-point range. On the defensive side of the ball Yap totaled three steals.
SJSU graduate student center Chol Marial played 19 minutes in the game which was the most he’s played all season. Marial utilized his extra minutes and seven-foot-two height to grab a team-leading seven rebounds and racked up two blocks.
Another player who saw his season high in minutes was graduate student Sadaidriene Hall with 20. Hall was second on the team in points scored with 14 while shooting a perfect 6-6 from the charity strike.
The Rainbow Warriors heated up in the second half due to a huge jump in their three-point shooting. In the first half they struggled shooting 1-10 from behind the arc.
But, in the second half they shot 5-9 from deep and most of those shots came late in the second half, putting the Spartans in a hole they just couldn’t get out of.
The Spartans are scheduled to play game three of the Outrigger Rainbow Classic against Life Pacific (0-3) at 6:30 p.m on Monday.
