Photo credit: @DoublePumpHoops

By: Ana Kieu

There’s not much left to salvage for the San Jose State Spartans, and the numbers prove it. Still, the Spartans hosted the San Diego State Aztecs in one of the biggest games of the season Saturday night in the Event Center in San Jose, California.

Before the first timeout of the game, San Jose State trailed San Diego State by one, 10-9, at the 11:47 mark of the first half. The score continued to remain close as the Aztecs held a one-point lead, 23-22, with 3:30 left in the half.

Then, SJSU had a big finish, which gave the hapless team some hope against SDSU. Ashtin Chastain helped the Spartans take the lead and Jalen James beat the halftime buzzer. Yet, the Spartans continued to trail the Aztecs 28-24 at the half.

Isaiah Nichols hit a 3-pointer–his third of the game–to cut the Aztecs’ lead to 45-41 at the 12:51 mark of the second half.

The Spartan defense faltered and that was one of the reasons why they got blown out by the Aztecs. The Spartans were overpowered by the Aztecs’ power of threes. Spartans’ Jaycee Hillsman made a pair of free throws and hit a three, but it didn’t matter.

The Spartans lost to the Aztecs 71-59 on Walt McPherson court. Keith Fisher III led all scorers with 29 points. Ryan Welage had nine points and eight rebounds.

With the loss, SJSU lost their 16th straight game and its record is now 3-24, 0-16 MW. Meanwhile, SDSU improved to 17-10, 9-7 MW.

Notes
Spartans’ starting lineup: Ryan Welage, Keith Fisher III, Oumar Barry, Jalen James and Jaycee Hillsman.

Aztecs’ starting lineup: Matt Mitchell, Nolan Narain, Jalen McDaniels, Trey Kell and Devin Watson.

Up Next
The Spartans host the Utah State Aggies in their final home game of the season Wednesday night at 7 pm PT.