Photo credit: @SJSUMBB

By: Ana Kieu

San Jose State men’s basketball arrived at Clune Arena with a goal to pick up its first conference win of the season against the Air Force Falcons Saturday. But, as you should already know, conference foes are one of the Spartans’ biggest challenges, so this conference game wasn’t an easy task for the road team.

Spartans head coach Jean Prioleau announced a starting lineup that featured the likes of Zach Chappell, Noah Baumann, Seneca Knight, Michael Steadman and Ashtin Chastain.

SJSU won the tip and the game went underway at Clune Arena. SJSU, however, fell behind and trailed 19-11 at the 12-minute mark of the first half. Why’s that? Air Force dominated the boards 13-5 in the early minutes of the game. Caleb Morris later knocked down a 3-pointer to help the Falcons extend their lead to 27-16 with 8:25 left.

What was the Falcons’ other scoring strategy? Just about any Falcons player could dump it down to Lavelle Scottie and boom! Scottie scores two points for the home team.

The Falcons built a comfortable 48-25 lead going into the locker room at halftime. The Spartans shot just 29 percent, which meant that they had a lot of work to do in the second half.

After the much-needed intermission, the second half was underway at Clune Arena. Pervis Louder recorded his first point of the game at the 17:33 mark by shooting a free throw. However, Louder missed a second free throw to make it two in a row. The score was 51-28 Falcons.

SJSU sent a small message to Air Force as a few bench players came off the bench and scored eight points before the first media timeout of the second. This scoring surge was capped off by Brae Ivey’s and-1. Ivey shot one after the break. Moreover, Steadman was being “Steady Steadman” with his eighth double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 boards.

Not only that, SJSU defended themselves and fought back as they held Air Force to just 2-of-9 shooting in the second. Knight had seven points at the 15:01 mark.

But the Falcons managed to hold onto a 60-43 lead at the 11:42 mark, despite the notable stat that the Spartans outshot the Falcons 54 percent to 28 percent.

SJSU wasn’t ready to back down though. Knight provided a huge spark for the Spartans with 12 points with 7:59 left. Still, SJSU trailed 64-50 at the under-8 timeout.

But the Spartans suffered from a 16-point deficit 76-60 at the final media timeout with 3:56 left. Sure, SJSU outscored Air Force 35-28, but the Falcons did just enough to keep the far-fetched advantage in tact.

SJSU (3-23, 0-14 MW) dropped its 17th consecutive game to Air Force (12-15, 7-8 MW) by a final score of 82-68.

SJSU returns home to host the New Mexico Lobos on Tuesday, February 26 at 7:00 pm PT.