FRESNO — The San José State men’s basketball team fell to Fresno State University 82-68 on Tuesday at the Save Mart Center in Fresno.
The Spartans fall to 8-23 and 3-16 in conference play, while Fresno State jumps to 14-17, 8-12 in conference play.
It was a back-and-forth affair between the two teams early in the first half, but the Bulldogs opened up the scoring from the three-point line, putting the Spartans down by as many as 12.
Fresno State shot 57% from beyond the arc in the first half, while SJSU shot for 25%.
SJSU head coach Tim Miles wasn’t pleased with the Spartans defensively in the first half when the team gave Fresno State good looks from beyond the arc.
“I didn’t think we did a good job, especially early in the possession of getting the ball and they just started passing around and got whatever they wanted,” Miles said. “And they got us on a couple of mismatches.”
Junior guard Colby Garland once again led the team in the scoring category with 26 points on 10 for 18 from field goal range.
Alongside was sophomore forward Adrian Myers, who was aggressive throughout the game. He finished the game with 17 points and a career-high 16 rebounds.
Miles said that Myers’ aggressiveness was felt throughout the match as the team’s leading cause of staying level in the rebound category.
“You saw him get rebounds and come up with plays where nobody else was,” Miles said. “He was the only Spartan in their fighting.”
The Spartans managed to cut their deficit to five points in the early portion of the second half, but a technical foul by Garland led to four consecutive free throws for the Bulldogs and a transition three-pointer by junior forward Jac Mani to give Fresno State back its double-digit lead.
From that point on, SJSU wasn’t able to manage to keep itself behind double-digits.
In the final 10 minutes of the game, they managed to make only three baskets outside of free throws.
The struggles occurred throughout the whole night for the Spartans, struggling to find any rhythm offensively.
They finished the night shooting just 22% from three point range.
Sophomore guard Jermaine Washington struggled to make an impact offensively, scoring five points on 2 for 9 shooting.
Bulldogs freshman center Wilson Jacques caused problems for the Spartans in the paint, with a team-high 19 rebounds.
His presence put the Spartans in foul trouble throughout the game. In the second half, they committed 10 fouls in the first 9 minutes of the half.
The free-throw shooting also continues to be a problem for SJSU, shooting 9 for 19 from the charity stripe.
With one last game on the regular season schedule, what Miles is asking for the team is simple.
“I want to see us play with a competitive fire. I want to see winning basketball,” Miles said.
SJSU will close out its regular season back at home against the University of Wyoming at 2 p.m. on March 7 at the Provident Credit Union Event Center.
