By Sara Biela (@sarabielaa)
With an explosion of 45 points over San Jose State’s 26 in the second half, Fresno State pulled away for a 77-57 win Wednesday night at the Event Center.
The Spartans (3-21, 0-13 MW) gave up a 48-percent shooting barrage in the final 20 minutes, with six of them being 3-pointers.
“We weren’t able to execute in the second half,” said junior forward Ryan Welage. “We had more turnovers and we let them get in the paint.”
The third-place Bulldogs (18-8, 8-5 MW) scored 18 of their 32 total paint points in the second half and 13 of their 20 points off of turnovers also occurred in that duration.
SJSU kept up with Fresno State and even went on a 23-6 run to take a 26-17 lead with 7:01 left in the first half.
However, the Bulldogs responded with a 17-5 run of their own to take a 32-31 lead heading into the break.
Fresno State’s lead scorer, senior guard Jaron Hopkins, scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half while his teammate, junior guard Deshon Taylor, scored 12 of his 19 in the same frame.
“We couldn’t stop their momentum,” said head coach Jean Prioleau. “We gave up too many baskets.”
SJSU freshman forward Keith Fisher led the team with 17 points and had a tied a career-high with 13 rebounds.
“I play as hard as I can,” Fisher said. “Rebounds come because of how hard I play. I try to pride myself on defense and rebounding, and it showed up today.”
The Spartans will look to end their 13-game losing streak against the Wyoming Cowboys this Saturday.
The two teams last met on Jan. 27 at the Event Center, when the Cowboys (16-10, 7-5 MW) narrowly secured a 90-86 overtime victory.
Tip off in Laramie is set for 2:00 p.m.