The San José State men’s basketball team fell in a nailbiter of atomic proportions to the San Diego State University basketball team in a game that could have gone either way.
San José State (12-14, 5-9 MW) took on San Diego State (16-6, 9-4) Tuesday night and came out with a 69-66 loss.
With 8.8 seconds remaining in the game, SDSU guard Wayne McKinney III drained the game winning free throws to seal the game at 69-66 for the Aztecs.
The Spartan’s leading scorer guard Josh Uduje was out with an elbow and back injury, according to a Twitter post by Jon Rothstein.
Head coach Tim Miles said that although the game was back and forth, the Spartans gave it their all and he was proud of his players’ effort.
“(College games) can swing both ways,” Miles said. “We obviously didn’t meet their aggression (in the second half). Our 17-point lead was wiped off in four minutes. I thought anything can happen.”
SDSU came into the game ranked as a top 20 in defensive efficiency in the nation for the ninth time in the last 14 years.
The Aztecs rank No. 2 ranked team in the nation at defensive field goal percentage at 36.8% second to only No. 1 seed Tennessee.
History did not bode well for the Spartans, as coming into the game their overall record against SDSU is at 20-1 in favor of the Aztecs since they joined the Mountain West in 2013.
The Spartans faced one of the toughest lineups of the season, as SDSU has five players 6-foot-8 or taller, so the Spartans had to push the pace in order to negate the size of the Aztecs.
Latrell Davis led the Spartans in scoring, tallying 21 points, shooting 7 for 16 from the field and shooting 5 for 11 from beyond the 3-point-line.
SJSU guards Donavan Yap Jr. and Davis pushed the pace early, accounting for 19 of the Spartans’ first 22 points.
The Spartans’ defensive anchor, center Robert Vaihola, played a major role. When Vaihola wasn’t rebounding his presence made SDSU change their shots and served as a key cog in the Spartans’ offensive surge.
“Robert (Vaihola is a good player,” Yap said. “Everybody has ups and downs, not everybody can play perfect. He competes every single day. That’s just who (Vaihola) is every single day. He can do that on an everyday basis for sure.”
Vaihola, as part of the SJSU defense, held SDSU to 2 for 6 shooting at the rim in the first half, allowing the Spartans to get out and running and resulted in a 37-20 Spartan lead in the first half.
When Vaihola came out of the game, the Spartans' game plan was simple: push the ball and crash the offensive boards.
Yap and Davis pressured the ball well, forcing 12 Aztec turnovers to the Spartans’ 6.
The Spartans held the Aztecs to 0% shooting from beyond the arc in the first half.
In fact, SJSU dominated SDSU in every statistical category except for free throw shooting, in which the Spartans shot 1 for 6 and the Aztecs shot 8 for 11 going into halftime.
The Aztecs came out the gates blazing in the second half, opening up play with a 15-0 run, tying the game at 37-37 with 15:36 left in the second half.
With 5:04 remaining in the game, Yap scored a layup to give the Spartans the lead 57-55, but from that point onward, SDSU’s big men were able to crash the glass.
SDSU tallied 7 offensive rebounds and totaled 18 rebounds in the second half.
The Spartans are scheduled to play a home game against the Nevada Wolf Pack on Friday at the Provident Credit Union Event Center at 7:00 p.m.
