By Austin Turner — Staff Writer
A massive comeback attempt fell short on Thursday night as San Jose State men’s basketball was defeated 85-77 by Weber State in the opening round of the Junkanoo Jam in The Bahamas.
After a disastrous first half in which the Spartans shot just 27 percent and were thrashed in transition, they outscored the Wildcats 48-40 in the final 20 minutes and shot 54 percent from the field.
The Wildcats led by 20 with 14 minutes remaining, and the Spartans were able to cut the lead down to just 7 at one point thanks to two-seperate 9-0 runs in the second half.
WSU point guard Jerrick Harding led the game with 31 points and showed impressive shooting talent. He was 10-20 from the field and 4-10 from three, and was able to slice through the Spartan defense for some clutch layups.
Leading the way for the Spartans was a breakout performance from power forward Christian Anigwe.
He played 37 minutes off of the bench and dominated the paint on both sides of the court. Anigwe recorded his first career double-double with a team-high 20 points off of 8-9 shooting and led the game with 13 rebounds.
It was a terrific and efficient performance for the true-freshman in his first time playing extensive minutes of the young season.
Michael Steadman continued to show his importance to the team as he had another solid night.
He rebounded from an 0-8 shooting night against Southern Utah with a decent game from the field, going 6-13 with 12 points.
Defensively is where Steadman shines as he had a great game on the opposite end. He had 7 boards and a big blocked shot, and was active on defense all game.
After struggling to stop the Wildcat fastbreak for much of the first half, SJSU head coach Jean Prioleau switched up the defense from man-to-man to a zone, which provided a huge difference in play for the Spartans.
They were able to eliminate the easy layups that WSU was getting for a large stretch, and forced it to take some ill-advised jump shots.
However, even after great adjustments following the first 20 minutes, the Spartans just couldn’t slow the Wildcats down enough to take a lead.
There just wasn’t enough time, and foul trouble caught up to the Spartans as they fell 85-77.
SJSU will have Friday night off and will return to the court on Saturday night to take on CSU Bakersfield, who fell to Central Michigan 67-55 on Thursday as the Junkanoo Jam resumes for Round 2.
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