By Mohamed Bafakih (@MohamedABafa ):
March Madness came a day early for San Jose State men’s basketball.
It was pandemonium inside the Event Center Wednesday night as the Spartans snapped a 16-game losing skid with a 76-74 win over Utah State.
“It was crazy, it was like we won a championship,” said senior Jalen James on the atmosphere of the locker room following SJSU’s first win since Dec. 21, a span of 69 days. “Guys was going nuts.”
The celebration began pregame with James and Ryan Singer being honored on Senior Night.
Singer, a junior from Littleton, Colo., will forgo his senior season after sustaining a season-ending knee injury in the team’s third game of the year.
The Spartans’ other Ryan, Ryan Welage, continued the surprises with a quiet first half to leave him tied at 153 for most career 3-pointers made in program history. This was after he went 0-for-2 in the previous game against San Diego State.
Utah State (14-16, 7-10 MW), meanwhile, came out firing with 24 attempts from downtown in the first 20 minutes.
SJSU (4-25, 1-16 MW) had no answer for sophomore guard Sam Merrill, who had 18 points at the break and connected on six of the Aggies’ nine 3-pointers in the opening frame.
Junior Jaycee Hillsman kept the Spartans in it with 12 first-half points as part of an efficient 55 percent shooting period for SJSU to make it 37-all at recess.
“I just did what I had to do for us to win,” Hillsman, who played all 40 minutes and finished with 19 points and five rebounds, said. “It wasn’t always pretty, but we got the W.”
He was able to create offense and easy shot selections — an area which the Spartans have struggled to do — especially late in games.
Welage took his first 3-pointer with 16:30 left in the game near the team’s bench but drew iron on the attempt.
He missed the second one just over four minutes later, but on the ensuing possession hit it from straightaway to take over the No. 1 spot in the record books.
Defense and rebounding, areas which head coach Jean Prioleau and his team take pride in, ultimately was the difference in the second half.
“We’ve come a long way,” Prioleau said. “What everyone saw tonight was the culmination of getting in the gym every single day, believing in what we do, taking the distractions out and just trying to get better.”
SJSU held Utah State to 25 second-half points on 31 percent shooting from the field and 15 percent (3-for-19) from behind the arc, while grabbing five more rebounds. Merrill cooled off in the second half as he was held to eight points.
The Spartans’ largest lead of the night was four, which came with 2:26 left in the game and again with 52 seconds remaining.
Second-year guard Isaiah Nichols hit a contested jumper from just inside the 3-point line to make it a two-possession game, 64-60, with under a minute left.
Utah State’s Taylor Quinn managed to get a layup to go with 36 seconds left, however SJSU would deny a potential game-winning 3-pointer from Julion Pearre as he didn’t get it off in time and missed.
The Spartans will now try to close out the regular season with some momentum as they head to Colorado Springs to take on Air Force Saturday afternoon.
