Story and Photos by Aikman Fang
The San José State men’s basketball team (9-19, 2-13 MW) lost 84-63 to the University of Nevada (22-6, 9-5 MW) on Friday night at the Provident Credit Union Event Center.
With the absence of SJSU sophomore center Adrame Diongue, Nevada dominated the interior early, scoring 22 of its 34 first-half points inside the paint and outrebounded SJSU 26-12.
Wolf Pack’s sophomore forward Nick Davidson pulled down 10 of his game-high 15 rebounds in the first half. Davidson also finished with a game-high 23 points on 8 of 9 shooting.
“It’s difficult when you have to commit two to the posts on Davidson because you know he’s going to beat your one on one,” SJSU head coach Tim Miles said.
The Spartans kept the game close by forcing the Wolf Pack into nine turnovers in the first period and only trailed 34-29 at halftime.
The score was tied 42-42 at 15:27 left in the game before the Wolf Pack went on a 15-0 run after graduate guard Hunter McIntosh hit a 3-pointer with 10:06 left in the game.
McIntosh finished with 18 points and a game-high six 3-pointers, four of which came in the second half.
Nevada made 75% of their attempts from behind the 3-point line in the second half after shooting 33% from behind the 3-point line in the first half.
“I thought our guys did a good job battling to even the game and then our perimeter defense let us down,” head coach Miles said.
Junior guard Myron (MJ) Amey, Jr. led the Spartans with 18 points on 46.7% shooting from the field. Freshman guard Latrell Davis also provided a surge off the bench with 17 points and a team-high six rebounds.
“On the bright side, Latrell Davis did an outstanding job and MJ Amey was really steady, but we just didn’t have all hands on deck,” Miles said.
Prior to tip-off, SJSU recognized three seniors: forward Tibet Görener, team captain and forward Trey Anderson, and guard Ryen Perry.
“All three of those guys have been with me since I’ve been here,” Amey said. “I’ve been to war with them on and off the court for the past three years … you just build that connection and brotherhood that’s going to last forever.”
With a handful of games left this season, Görener sits as the Spartans’ all time leader in career 3-pointers with a total of 167. Görener struggled from the field, finishing with two points on 1-of-8 shooting against Nevada.
Meanwhile, Anderson has made 123 career 3-pointers as a Spartan, and is tied for eighth with Michael Quinney. Anderson finished the game with nine points, three rebounds and three assists.
The student manager-turned walk-on, Perry, last played for the Spartans back in Nov. 29 in a 81-77 loss to Cal Poly and has been out since with a ruptured achilles.
Nail-biter against the Aztecs
Following the outing against Nevada, SJSU narrowly lost to No. 20 San Diego State (22-7, 11-5 MW) on Tuesday night inside Viejas Arena. The Spartans came into the game as 21.5-point underdogs, before ultimately losing to the Aztecs 72-68.
SJSU closed the final 10 minutes on a 25-17 run and trailed by four (66-62) with 31 seconds left in the game.
Amey recorded the third double-double of his career with team-highs of 17 points and 10 rebounds against SDSU. Davis provided 13 points off the bench and that was the third time Davis scored double-digits in the last four games.
SJSU will head to Las Vegas next to face UNLV this upcoming Saturday at 7 p.m.
