San Jose State continues conference play in home game vs. UNLV

San Jose State looks to avoid two-game losing skid

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It’s now 2018, can the Spartans start the new year off right?

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The Spartans continued Mountain West play with a Wednesday night game against the Rebels at the Event Center.

Although the San Jose State campus was shut down all day, the SJSU vs. UNLV game resumed at its scheduled time at 8 pm PT.

As always, the SJSU cheerleading squad was loud and enthusiastic, chanting “defense” the entire game. Their chants appeared to have helped the struggling Spartans in a good way.

Shakur Juiston opened the scoring with a jumper for two points, but Ryan Welage, Keith Fisher, Noah Baumann and Isaiah Nichols all contributed to the Spartans’ 14-7 lead in the first 10 minutes of the first half.

Brandon McCoy made a dunk to pull the Rebels within five, but Jaycee Hillsman hit a three to expand the Spartans’ lead to 17-9 at the 13:07 mark.

Tervell Beck made a layup, Oumar Barry responded with a layup of his own, and the Rebels scored five points on McCoy’s jumper and Jordan Johnson’s three to pull their team within three (19-16) at the 10:12 mark.

Chastain’s layup and Nai Carlisle’s jumpers helped the Spartans barely lead by two for quite some time as the Rebels poured in the points, thanks to Juiston, McCoy and Kris Clyburn, while SJSU rested its leading scorer (Fisher) for nearly 10 minutes.

Fisher returned to the Spartan lineup and quickly made a jumper to pull his team within three (30-27) with 2:39 left in the first.

Both teams exchanged points. McCoy shot a free throw, Welage made a jumper, Beck made a layup and Chastain shot a free throw. The Spartans continued to trail the Rebels by three (33-30) with 1:25 left in the first.

However, the Rebels gave the Spartans a tough time as they closed out the first with a tip-in by Beck and a dunk by Cheikh Mbacke Diong after Chastain missed a three. SJSU trailed UNLV 37-30 at the end of the first.

The Spartans opened the second half with a layup by Fisher, but the Rebels scored five—all from McCoy. SJSU then pulled within six (42-36) on a pair of free throws by Hillsman and a tip-in by Barry in a span of one minute.

Both teams exchanged points again. Johnson made a layup, Carlisle hit a three and Diong made a jumper. The Spartans then scored three on Hillsman’s free throw and Brandon Mitchell’s layup. The Rebels pulled within six (48-42) on McCoy’s jumper at the 12:27 mark.

Amauri Hardy hit a three to extend the Rebels’ lead to 51-42 at the 11:46 mark. The Spartans then pulled within four (51-47) on Mitchell’s jumper and Welage’s three.

However, all eyes were on the Rebels for a little while. McCoy shot a couple of free throws and a jumper, Clyburn shot a pair of free throws and a layup and Juiston made a layup of his own.

The Spartans got back into the game late in the second. Welage hit a three and Chastain followed with a jumper to pull their team within six (62-56) with four minutes left in the game.

McCoy shot yet another pair of free throws, but Welage responded with a three to pull the Spartans within three (61-61) with 2:16 left.

Welage made a layup to make it a one-point game, and the Spartans fans in attendance got loud.

Then, the Rebels fans in the audience got even louder as Welage got a foul and Diong hit a free throw to extend his team’s lead by two (65-63). However, the UNLV lead was short-lived as Baumann hit a three to put the Spartans up by one (66-65) with 25 seconds left.

Shortly after Baumann’s three, Welage got his second consecutive foul with 4.9 seconds left. But the Spartans’ lead was short-lived as Diong hit another free throw to tie the game at 66 with just five seconds left.

The score remained in a 66-66 deadlock after two halves, and fans in attendance got to watch free basketball as the game headed into overtime.

Jovan Mooring opened the scoring in overtime with a free throw at 3:48 for a 67-66 lead in favor of UNLV. Just 22 seconds later, Baumann hit a three to help SJSU regain a two-point lead of 69-67.

The script flipped as Clyburn hit a free throw to pull the Rebels within one (69-68). Juiston followed with a free throw of his own to tie the game at 69. UNLV continued to apply offensive pressure on SJSU as Mooring hit a three to put his team up by three (72-69) at 2:10.

Juiston hit a free throw to expand the Rebels’ lead by four (73-69), but Welage pulled the Spartans within two (73-71) with 1:11 left.

The back-and-forth action continued as McCoy made a jumper, Welage made a layup, Johnson hit a couple of free throws and Juiston hit a pair of free throws.

Hillsman hit a three to pull the Spartans within four (80-76) with five seconds left. Still, Johnson closed out the game with a pair of free throws.

The Spartans dropped their third straight conference game by a score of 82-76.

Up Next SJSU will embark on a brief, two-game road trip, starting with a game against the Lobos Saturday night at 7 pm MT.