The San José State men’s basketball team hosted Bethesda University and blew out the visiting Flames 117-72 at the Provident Credit Union Event Center on Thursday night.
Bethesda came off of another embarrassing loss against the University of San Francisco, falling 128-59. Meanwhile, the Spartans looked to maintain their rhythm after a successful home opener, beating the University of California, Irvine Anteaters, 72-64 Tuesday night.
Junior forward Tibet Görener led the Spartans with a career-high 26 points. Sophomore center Adrame Diongue boarded a career-high 11 rebounds. Junior guard Myron Amey Jr. was one of six Spartans in double figures.
“I understand my main ability is to score, but I’ve been trying to be better at facilitating and just understanding that there’s going to be games where the defense can collapse when I drive in and just try to look for other guys,” Amey said.
The blue-and-gold continued to attack the rim, going 24-29 on layups.
“We probably should have shot 40 (layups),” SJSU head coach Tim Miles said. “I thought we passed on too many early ones in that first half. We were 11-of-13 at the rim at halftime. I thought we could have been 15-for-18 and we weren’t. It was just the nature of the way (Bethesda) can play defense and what we can do.”
The Flames strung together an offensive spark themselves, forcing turnovers and scoring in transition.
Bethesda cut the SJSU advantage to a single-digit lead at 41-33 with 5:34 left in the first half.
“We had to guard a team that put you in isolation situations and for the first nine minutes of the game, our opponent had 11 points, and we were doing just fine,” Miles said “All of a sudden, your edge falls off and you look up and they’ve got 47 at halftime.”
The Flames shot the lights out, shooting42% on 3-pointers compared to the Spartans’ 29%. The Spartans went into the locker room with a 56-47 lead at halftime.
Bethesda came into the game shooting an 11.5% on 3-pointers compared to the Spartans’ 33.3% from distance.
“I think that one, (Göerner) is applying his knowledge more than ever,” Miles said. “He’s one of the highest basketball IQ guys I’ve coached. You love when you have coaches on the floor like that.”
Görener sparked an offensive explosion for the Spartans early in the second half, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers, firing up an energetic home crowd and extinguishing Bethesda’s flame and extending their lead to 69-47.
The Spartans totaled 9 steals and forced a plethora of turnovers by the Flames, forcing 15 turnovers and capitalizing on those mistakes.
“I think we learned a lot today,” Görener said. “In the first half, we weren’t good defensively. In the second half, we started with six straight stops. That set the tone for the second half. MJ (Myron Amey Jr.) had a couple steals and that led to easy buckets. I think we learned a good lesson today.”
SJSU pushed the momentum and forced a blistering, yet steady pace and notched 20 fastbreak points.
The Spartans held the Flames to 7 fastbreak points.
“We understand that even in these first few games, we know that it’s going to take a collective group,” Amey said. “The past couple nights, we have guys in double figures and that’s just what it’s going to have to be the whole season and just believing in one another.”
The Spartans lost 56-42 Texas Tech Sunday afternoon despite junior guard Alvaro Cardenas who had 14 points and four assists. SJSU is set to square off against Abilene Christian University for the 23rd U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam tournament at St.Thomas in the Virgin Islands on Friday.
