By Aaron Johnson (@voz_aaron1) – Managing Editor | Sophomore guard Latrell Davis (5) prepares to take the inbound during SJSU’s 66-61 win over Wyoming in the first round of the Mountain West tournament. (photo by Aaron Johnson)
After holding a 22-point lead in the first half, (8) San Jose State (15-18, 7-13 MW) found themselves leading only 64-61 ahead of (9) Wyoming (12-20, 5-15 MW) with 13 seconds to go.
This came after Cowboys graduate student forward Cole Henry scored an and-one basket over Spartans graduate student forward Sadaidriene Hall. Then Henry would miss the free throw and the ball would be hit back to Cowboys senior guard Obi Agbim who hit the three to bring the game to 64-61.
The Cowboys would then full court press and force graduate student guard Donovan Yap Jr. into a bad pass turnover.
The ball was back in their possession with 13 seconds left.
“When we get in these situations we need to stick together,” Hall said. “Everytime we build a lead we seem to mess up and give the game back to them. But today we were able to stop them.”
Agbim would get the ball and pull up for three. The ball hit off the backboard and was rebounded by Spartans senior guard Josh Uduje who was then fouled.
Uduje would make both free throws and that was the game.
A 66-61 victory for the Spartans and they improved to 3-0 on the season against the Cowboys.
This was just the second Mountain West tournament victory in the history of the program. The first win was in the 2023 tournament where SJSU defeated Nevada 81-77 in overtime, also under head coach Tim Miles.
The Spartans started the game on a 12-0 run, forcing three Wyoming turnovers. The Spartans outplayed the Cowboys on the defensive side of the ball the whole first half as Wyoming shot 9-27 from the field and 0-8 from deep.
“Our guys were really active in the gaps, tough on the ball and anticipating the plays right.” Miles said. “We were able to turn their offense into our offense.”
The Spartans held a 38-22 halftime lead.
Hall dominated in the first half scoring 15 of his 16 points, grabbing three rebounds and coming up with two steals.
Hall has scored double-digits in all three games against Wyoming this season.
The Cowboys outscored the Spartans in the second half 39-28 as their offense struggled to find consistent rhythm. SJSU had multiple instances of two-minute scoring droughts.
With 7:40 remaining in the second half Wyoming already matched its first half point total of 22.
Senior guard Jordan Nesbitt was a problem for the Spartans in the second half as he scored 14 of his 16 points. Nesbitt also shot 6-11 from the field in the second half.
Yap put the offense on his back as he scored 14 of the 28 points for SJSU in the second half. Yap shot 4-for-8 from deep and this marked the first time he made four 3-point shots in back-to-back games in his career.
Yap scored 19 points which led the team. This was the second straight game that Yap led the team in scoring as he had 30 points against Fresno State on Saturday.
Uduje was the third Spartan in double-digit scoring in the game as he scored 15 and also grabbed eight rebounds. Uduje shot 8-9 at the free throw line and was a big part of icing the game as Wyoming came roaring back.
Pre-game the Spartans were seen wearing shirts that read “doubt us.”
“Since the beginning of the season we just knew that everyone counted us out,” Yap said. “A lot of people probably didn’t think we could win this game. But as far as our circle goes we think we can win every game.”
SJSU will now move on to play the first seeded New Mexico (25-6, 17-3 MW) Thursday at noon.
The last time these two teams met the Spartans defeated the Lobos 71-70 in San Jose on Jan. 14.
