The San José State men’s basketball team dominated in its final game of the season, defeating Fresno State 92-68 on senior night where the program honored both undergraduate and graduate seniors on the roster.
With the win, SJSU finished the season with a record of 14-18 and 7-13 in the conference, while the Bulldogs finished at 6-25 with a conference record of 2-18.
Graduate guard Donavan Yap was the main man for the Spartans on Saturday afternoon, dropping 30 points against his former team.
“It feels pretty good being able to play against my previous team and being able to get the W,” Yap said. “That was a great game for sure.”
Yap’s mother was at the game as she watched her son have one of the best games of his career.
“It’s always been me and my mom, so her being able to come out and support me on this night was special for me,” Yap said.
Yap shot 79% from the field on 14 attempts and went 5 for 7 from behind-the-arc while missing only one free throw the entire game.
Senior guard Josh Uduje spoke highly of Yap’s performance and proudly shared the moment with him.
“I was telling him (Yap) this is stuff you tell your kids about,” Uduje said. “He had 30 against his old team; that’s something that you only see in a book.”
Uduje was honored at the game along with Yap, graduate forward Sadaidriene Hall, graduate center Chol Marial and the staff members of the team who are graduating this year.
Uduje was supported by his mom and his brother, who surprised him the night before the game.
“We only have one senior night and I wasn’t expecting them to be here,” Uduje said. “Being able to perform in front of them and get the win is amazing.”
The Spartans as a whole, outshot and outrebounded the Bulldogs, giving SJSU head coach Tim Miles something to be proud of.
“(It was a) good home win to end the season for San José State (and I) love it,” Miles said. “I think (there was) a lot of balance, some career highs from different guys doing some excellent things and finally nine guys you know, so that helps a lot.”
SJSU shot 53% from the field, 39% from the 3-point line and made 84% of its free throws compared to Fresno State’s 41% from the field, 15% from three and 62% from the charity stripe.
Along with Yap, the Spartans had three other players with double figures.
Freshman guard Jermaine Washington also had a career high 19 points on 5 for 11 shooting from field, 2 for 6 from deep and shooting a perfect 7 for 7 from the free throw line.
Washington played such a great game that Uduje couldn’t talk about the game without mentioning him.
“(With) Jermaine having a great day today (and) having his career high, I feel like that’s something we don’t speak about enough with our team is that anybody can show up on any type of day,” Uduje said.
Uduje scored 16 along with shooting 6 for 11 from the field, grabbing three boards and draining a three-pointer.
This season, Uduje had 24 out of 30 games this season where he scored double-figures according to his stats page on SJSU Athletics.
Junior center Robert Vaihola was big on the glass grabbing a career-high 19 boards along with 13 points to record a double-double.
Following the win, the Spartans are scheduled to play Wyoming in the Mountain West Tournament on Wednesday at 11 a.m in Las Vegas, Nev.
SJSU is currently ranked #8 in the conference while Wyoming is right underneath at #9 according to a Mountain West web page.
“Our plan is to win it for sure,” Yap said. “Our end results haven’t been where we wanted it to be but we know that moving forward starting the conference at 0-0, anybody could win and we’re trying to win the tournament.”
