San Jose State Spartans were eliminated from the Mountain West Tournament at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas after losing to the Colorado State Rams on Wed Mar 13, 2024 (photo by San Jose State Spartans)
Wednesday, March 13th, 2024
By Troy Ewers
It’s the first round of the Mountain West Conference tournament and the San Jose State Spartans are in Sin City taking on the Colorado State Rams. Last game for the Spartans lost to No. 22 Utah State.
Alvaro Cardenas recorded his fourth double-double of the season to lead San José State (9-22, 2-16 Mountain West) in a 90-70 loss to Utah State (25-5, 13-4 Mountain West) on Wednesday night. Unfortunately for the Spartans they were one and done after this first tournament game losing 72-62 in Las Vegas at the Thomas and Mack Center.
The 1st Half for the Spartans started off very hot, but Colorado State went on a run to end the half that gave them a nice lead. 34-29 at half, Colorado State on top.
The second half had a lot of Spartans fans thinking they had a chance to move on to the next round. Cardenas and MJ Amey Jr. were the leading scorers all game for SJSU, but the gap was never closed. As for CSU, they were led by two big performances from Joel Scott, who had 18 points and Isaiah Stevens who recorded a double-double.
CSU despite not shooting great from the three point line won by 10, 72-62. Almost all of CSU’s points came from the paint or mid range and it was all they needed to beat a SJSU team who surprised a lot of people in this tournament game.
The season isn’t over for Colorado State as they face off against the Nevada Wolfpack in round 2 of the tournament, but for Tim Miles and the Spartans, the season has come to an end. 9-23, with a 2-17 Mountain West record is nothing to brag about, but guys like Amey Jr, Cardenas, and Tibet Gorener had a highlight season where they could hang their hat on going into their off seasons.
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