San Jose State Spartans and the Bethesda Flames battled it out in San Jose on Thu Nov 9, 2023 (San Jose State Spartans photo)
Thursday, November 9th, 2023
By Troy Ewers
It’s the second game of the season for the Spartans and it’s San Jose State facing off against the Bethesda Flames. This is a home game before they go to Texas Tech and then a tournament in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Bethesda drove up from Anaheim in vans and showed up 3 hours before the game.
The first half started with a dominant outing on offense with Tibet Gorener having nine of the Spartans first 11 points and holding a lead halfway through the first. The Spartans were scoring mostly in the paint and had second chance points that made the difference for them as the first half went on.
Bethesda tried to stay in the fold keeping the score as close as they could, but there weren’t enough runs for the Flames. With five minutes left in the half, Bethesda had cut the lead to eight and were looking to go on their first run.
The nine total turnovers SJSU had brought Bethesda within two points, but a 6-0 run from the Spartans in the last 1:22 of the half put them up going into the locker room 56-47. The biggest problem for Bethesda were fouls. The Flames had 13 team fouls and SJSU took full advantage of these opportunities making 13-15 free throws in the first half.
The Spartans started the second half the way they were supposed to getting a 20 point lead 5 minutes into the half. The Flames hit a drought where for 4:39 they didn’t score a point and that was the halfway point of the half in the game.
SJSU went on a terror run leading by 32 with eight minutes left and Gorener leading the team in points with 26. It was a complete runaway for San Jose State, beating their season high score from last season that was also against Bethesda. This is the third most points in San Jose State basketball history and the game was well in the books, SJSU winning 117-72.
The game after halftime was a complete blowout, but it was something that is going to give the Spartans a lot of confidence going to Lubbock, TX where SJSU will face Texas Tech on Saturday. The three standout players for SJSU were Gorrener with 26 points, Alvaro Cardenas with 14 points and 8 assists, and Trey Anderson with 13 points. The Spartans are 2-0 and look to keep this party going into this ongoing season.
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