Despite holding an early lead, the San Jose State men’s basketball team dropped their second straight game as they lost 66-51 to the University of Nevada, Reno on the road on Tuesday night.
Senior shooting guard Omari Moore had 13 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists. Sophomore point guard Alvaro Cardenas recorded 8 points and 6 assists.
Moore was the only Spartan to score in double digits.
SJSU's last win in Reno came in 2014, and its losing streak at Lawlor Events Center extends to seven games.
“We ran out of some offense,” said SJSU head coach Tim Miles. “I thought we settled for some threes and we just couldn’t sustain [our offense.]”
The Spartans came into this game after suffering their worst conference loss of the season to New Mexico, on Saturday night at home.
SJSU’s second worst conference loss of the season came against Nevada on Jan. 7 when it lost 67-40 at home.
Nevada came into this matchup ranked No. 35 in the country according to the NCAA Net Rankings.
They won notable games against Boise State, Utah State and San Diego State, all of whom were ranked in the top 25 at some point this season.
The Spartans went on a 7-0 at the 6:01 mark of the first half to take an early 23-16 lead.
The Wolf Pack weathered the early storm and came within four points at halftime.
Going into intermission, SJSU led 28-24. A strong 10 point performance by Moore helped the Spartans maintain a first half lead.
The Spartans started the second half strong. A 6-0 run starting at the 17:40 mark of the second half gave SJSU a 36-29 lead.
Nevada responded with a big run of their own in the late stages of the second half.
After taking a seven-point lead after the break, the Wolf Pack went on a 29-12 run, shifting the momentum and closing out the Spartans on their home court.
Nevada junior center Will Baker had a huge second half, scoring 12 points. He totaled 18 points and 5 rebounds for the game.
The Spartans cold shooting in the latter part of the second half was a key reason why they lost.
After Moore led the Spartans’ offense in the second half, he would only score 3 points on 1-of-6 shooting from the floor.
Moore’s first shot in the second half came with just over 8 minutes left in the game.
“When we weren’t shooting well, if [we’re] not making threes, where else can we score,” Miles said about the lack of offense in the second half. “If they’re gonna commit that much attention to Omari, we’re gonna need everybody … We did not get that tonight.”
The Spartans are scheduled to come back home to face Boise State at 4 p.m. on Saturday at the Provident Credit Union Event Center.
SJSU lost its last matchup with the Broncos 67-64 earlier in a closely contested match back in January.
