By Aaron Johnson (@voz_aaron1) – Managing Editor | Senior guard Josh Uduje goes up for a layup during SJSU’s 63-52 loss against New Mexico. (Photo by Aaron Johnson)
San Jose State’s (15-19, 7-13 MW) season came to an end against New Mexico (26-6, 17-3 MW) in a 63-52 loss in the Mountain West Tournament quarterfinal.
Senior guard Josh Uduje got the play of the game for SJSU as he was able to get a dunk on New Mexico senior center Nelly Junior Joseph. This gave the Spartans a momentum swing and would spark a 7-0 run giving the Spartans a 21-16 lead.
“Latrell got the steal and I knew (Joseph) wasn’t going to let me lay it in,” Uduje said. “I didn’t think he’d jump. So I’m glad he did.”
Uduje would finish the game with 10 points and five rebounds.
The Lobos would regain momentum at the end of the first half going on a 12-0 run. This would be broken up by graduate student Donavan Yap Jr. making a layup.
Lobos sophomore guard Tru Washington forced Yap into a turnover with one second left on the clock.
Then they would throw the ball to Lobos junior guard Donovan Dent who threw up a half court shot and made it as time expired to give the Lobos a nine point halftime lead.
Dent would finish the game with 25 points and five assists.
“You can’t just let him do his thing because he can just dominate the game,” head coach Tim Miles said. “Junior Joseph is a big deal for him too. The screens that he set gives them a huge advantage.”
The story of the game was turnovers.
The Spartans typically don’t cough up the ball much but they had 18 turnovers and allowed the Lobos to get 24 points off turnovers.
On top of that, both Uduje and Davis were in foul trouble for the second straight game.
“At a certain point you say ‘forget it’ and I got to that point when I put Uduje back in with two and Davis back in with two with five minutes to go in the first half,” head coach Tim Miles said. “There’s only a small chance they are going to foul out on accident.”
Despite the loss the Lobos struggled in the paint early on and described the game as
“frustrating.”
Junior center Robert Vaihola put up a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. His presence made things difficult for the Lobos.
“He does it all,” Davis said. “We limit them to one shot at a time instead of them being able to have second chance points. He’s a big factor.”
It was a defensive battle in the game as the Spartans 52 points was their second lowest point total of the entire season. Both teams shot below 40% (New Mexico- 38% and San Jose State 36%).
Graduate student forward Sadaidriene Hall was the Spartans leading scorer with 13 points and shot 3-5 from deep while also grabbing eight rebounds.
Outside of Vaihola, Uduje and Hall, the Spartans struggled to find consistent shooting. Yap and Davis, who are a big part of the Spartans offense, shot 4-19 collectively.
Davis had nine points with six rebounds while Yap had two points.
Junior Joseph was another problem for the Spartans as he had a double-double with 14 points and 18 rebounds.
With the season over, the Spartans will be saying goodbye to Uduje, Hall, Yap and graduate student center Chol Marial who are all out of eligibility.
“It still hasn’t sunk in that it was my last college game,” Uduje said. ‘It was still a good ride competing in the Mountain West for two years.”
The Spartans fought hard, but were not able to come out on top.
