The San José State men’s basketball team captured its third win in a row after defeating North Dakota State University 78-65 Monday night at home.
Senior forward Trey Anderson led all scorers with 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field. Junior forward Tibet Görener scored 15 points and guard Myron Amey Jr. added 14 points to go along with 10 rebounds.
“It was a good win for the Spartans tonight,” SJSU head coach Tim Miles said. “North Dakota State's a tough team physically and mentally. They challenged us in a lot of different ways.”
The Spartans struggled to shoot the ball in the first half. SJSU shot just 40% from the field and 33% from behind the arc.
Despite the cold shooting half, the Spartans led 32-27 going into halftime.
SJSU took control of the game 10 minutes into the second half. The Spartans went on a 25-19 run to end the game, led by a 14-point second half performance from Anderson.
“This team needs me to score first, so I feel like every game I have to have the mindset to come in and score,” Anderson said.
Miles and SJSU players said the game had a Mountain West feel to it.
“They are a strong program that could compete with Mountain West teams,” Miles said. “I scheduled this game for a reason.”
Miles also confirmed forward Robert Vaihola underwent season-ending surgery on a leg injury and will miss the rest of the season at the post-game press conference junior.
Vaihola averaged 7.6 points and 6.5 rebounds coming off the bench this season. He was slated to be a starter after Ibrahima Diallo, last season’s starting center, transferred to the University of Central Florida earlier this year.
This won’t be the only time these two teams will meet. The Spartans will travel to Fargo, North Dakota on Dec. 4 to face the Bisons on the road.
But first, SJSU is scheduled to travel to San Luis Obispo to face Cal Poly in its next game at 7 p.m. at the Mott Athletics Center on Wednesday.
