By Richy Zajic — Staff Writer
Saturday night’s game was an impressive performance for the struggling Spartans. Fewer turnovers, high rebounds, and timely assists had San Jose State battling for momentum with San Diego State all night.
However it was the Aztecs (13-8, 5-3 MWC) that went home with a 67-56 win over the Spartans (3-18, 0-9 MWC) led by the play of senior guard Devin Watson and redshirt sophomore forward Jalen McDaniels, who combined for 49 of the Aztecs’ 67 points.
The Spartans battled back in the first half behind the mentality of not turning the ball over at a high clip, a key for the entire game.
“I thought our team battled tonight,” said head coach Jean Prioleau. “We only had 13 turnovers, we’ve been turning it over at a high rate so I thought we did a way better job and I’m proud of our guys in that respect.”
After the Aztecs jumped out to a commanding 16-3 lead, SJSU tore off a 14-0 run of its own to take the lead 17-16. The score was 25-21 going into halftime in favor of SDSU.
Capitalizing from the free throw line kept the Spartans competitive in the game. SJSU shot 84.6 percent from the charity stripe, which provided them with much needed points throughout the contest.
The Aztecs started off the second half hot. McDaniels knocked down three-straight jumpers and assisted on a three from Watson. They would not let up in the second half and the Aztecs continued to pile on the buckets while finding ways to get stops on the defensive end.
It seemed as though anytime the Spartans would make a run to get back into the game, either Devin Watson would nail a disheartening three — which he shot at 45 percent, or Jalen McDaniels would pull up and knock down another mid range jumper while shooting at a rate of 55 percent.
One of the shining stars of the night for the Spartans was forward Craig LeCesne who had 14 points, while also securing six rebounds and shooting a perfect 5-5 from the free throw line.
“We’re going to be a good team, we’re taking steps in the right direction… we just need to keep learning,” LeCesne said after the loss.
The Spartans hope to keep improving and pick up a win on February 9th when they take on the Boise State Broncos in Boise at 11 a.m.
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