The San Jose State men’s basketball team took a slim lead into the second half, but failed to secure the victory against the University of Wyoming on Saturday.
Small leads were relinquished by both teams during the second half before Spartans (7-16, 3-8 MWC) built a 5-point lead with six minutes left in the game.
The Cowboys (6-18, 1-11 MWC) went on a 13-3 run, to close out the game, ending with a 71-66 final.
Sophomore point guard Seneca Knight suffered an injury during the second half. He leads the team in scoring this season and led all scorers in the game with 21 points.
“It hurt. I’m not gonna lie. It did hurt. But hopefully, it’s nothing major,” Knight said.
Despite the injury, Knight was still able to play through and finished the game, playing 39 of the 40 minutes in the game.
“It was a back-and-forth game all night. So we were playing tough and we weren’t getting the calls that we maybe could’ve got,” sophomore forward Christian Anigwe said.
The intensity ramped up when the Spartans went on a 9-0 run to tie the game at 41 in the second half.
During a timeout prior to the run, head coach Jean Prioleau worked on fixing the defensive scheme.
“It slowed them down, it got us going a little bit,” Prioleau said. “We were able to get some shots, get some turnovers.”
Prioleau said the strong defense from the Cowboys was the vital factor to their victory.
“We were taking wide open shots that we just didn’t make them. We had situations where we made them,” Prioleau said. “It’s also a function on how they play defense too.”
This resulted in the Spartans’ low field goal percentage. They went 21-57 from the field which included 9-31 from 3-point range.
“We want to shoot threes. Obviously, we don’t want that type of percentage. We’re going to continue to shoot them,” Prioleau said.
Both Knight and Anigwe have similar mindsets on preparing for the next game against the University of Nevada this weekend.
“I try to make sure that I get my body right and back healthy. Just the same thing we’ve been doing: just trying to perfect my shot and work on ball handling,” Knight said.
Anigwe, who led the team in rebounds with 10, said that they need to play as a team and move the ball around more.
With only seven games remaining, the Spartans find themselves second to last in the Mountain West Conference.
