By Aaron Johnson (@voz_aaron1) – Managing Editor | Senio guard Josh Uduje walks on the sideline after being subbed out. (photo by Abel Tariku – Spear Photographer)
Junior center Rob Vaihola finished the game with seven blocks. This is the biggest total for a Mountain West player this season.
“It’s incredible, he’s six-eight on a good day,” senior guard Josh Uduje said. “It’s a testament to how good of a defender he is. I think people overlook that.”
Vaihola’s defensive effort helped San Jose State (11-12, 4-7 MW) defeat Air Force (3-19, 0-11MW) 75-64 for its fourth conference win.
Head coach Tim Miles raved about Vaihola’s basketball IQ.
“You (see) that with his timing of blocked shots,” Miles said. “He’s not an above the rim rebounding guy but he understands angles, he reads the ball and then on offense we run a lot of things through him.”
Sophomore guard Latrell Davis continued his hot streak as he scored 18 points while shooting 3-3 from 3-point range. Davis also shot 7-8 from the field.
“When you play well and you start to do it against multiple opponents over and over again you gain confidence,” Miles said. “He’s always been a great guy in transition and he’s getting better on defense too.”
Uduje led the game in points with 24 points while also grabbing four rebounds. He also threw down three emphatic dunks, helping bring the momentum in the Spartans favor.
The Falcons had their biggest lead of three coming with 11:16 left in the first half. However, the Spartans went on a scoring run behind three big 3-point shots from Uduje, Davis and junior guard Will McClendon to get to a 37-29 lead at halftime.
The biggest lead for the Spartans came in the second half when they had a 16-point lead with 2:33 to go. The Spartans had figured out the Falcons on offense.
“Air Force has a really good offense, they run a Princeton offense, so they move with a lot of back cuts,” Uduje said. “It always takes a bit of time to adjust to their actions. So once we locked in on that defensively we took care of business.”
In the first half the Spartans shot 2-8 from the line, leaving a lot of points on the table. This caused Miles to angrily yell from the sidelines, “Make your free throws!”
Ududje emphasized the performance was just an out-of-character moment for the team.
“A big part of free-throws is the mental side of things,” Uduje said. “I think the majority of us can make free-throws in our sleep, I mean for me I had three in-and-outs. You just have to focus on flushing it and moving on to the next.”
SJSU will go on the road to face Fresno State (5-17, 1-10 MW) at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Save Mart Center.
SJSU has three Fresno State transfers in graduate Donovan Yap Jr., Vaihola and senior guard Steven Vasquez.
