Spartans stampeded by Broncos

By Derrick Ow — Reporter

San Jose State men’s basketball was blown out of the Event Center on Wednesday night as they suffered their sixth straight loss at the hands of Boise State, 80-62.

Spartans guard Seneca Knight led all players with 23 points. The sophomore has nine games now with 20 points or more, but believed fatigue played a major factor in last night’s outcome. 

“Fatigue set in for all of us and we were not able to capitalize on some layups and free throws,” Knight said.

SJSU guard Richard Washington continued his strong play as he added 16 points. Sophomore forward Christian Anigwe almost had a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds. 

The Spartans (7-20, 3-12 MW) did lose sophomore guard Kaison Hammonds to a left knee injury as he was trying to finish a layup early in the 1st half.  His status remains in question for Saturday’s game at Colorado State.

Despite the small ball lineup for the Spartans, they had 10 steals and forced the Broncos to commit 21 turnovers. 

Both teams were sloppy on offense as they committed a combined 37 turnovers on the night. Boise State (18-10, 10-6 MW) capitalized on SJSU’s mistakes with 29 assists on 31 field goals for the Broncos. Spartans Head Coach Jean Prioleau loved the defensive effort from his team but expressed not capitalizing on Boise State’s turnovers.

“I thought we had energy today but we weren’t finishing at the basket,” Prioleau said. 

The Broncos were led by senior guard Justinian Jessup, who scored 20 points with six rebounds and five assists. The ball movement blitz was led by freshman guard Rayj Dennis who had a career-high eight assists. 

The Spartans’ next two games will be played in high elevation, starting with Colorado State on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. 

Follow Derrick on Twitter @derrickq42

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