Feb. 18, 2015
Postgame Press Conference Video
San Jose, Calif. --- Jaleel Williams scored a season-high 20 points, but the San José State men's basketball team lost 76-54 to Utah State in Mountain West play Wednesday night in The Event Center.
"We didn't play real smart tonight," said Spartans' head coach Dave Wojcik. "We had a lot of silly unforced turnovers, and we just weren't sharp."
The Spartans (2-23, 0-13 MW) finished with 16 turnovers, but through the first 10 minutes, it was the Aggies (15-10, 8-5 MW) who gave the ball up seven times. San José State trailed 23-20 with 5:47 to go in the period, but Utah State went on to sink 10 of their final 11 shots to grow the lead to 13 at the break.
"Give them credit too," Wojcik said. "They shot the heck out of the ball tonight."
The Aggies slowly grew the lead throughout the second half. Back-to-back dunks by Jalen Moore made it 56-34 with 14:15 left to play. Moore finished with 20 points to lead Utah State. Chris Smith added 17 points.
Three-balls by Darryl Gaynor II and Rashad Muhammad, plus a layup by Isaac Thornton were part of a 12-2 Spartans run which cut the Aggies lead down to 12 points with 10:40 left.
It turned out to be as close as SJSU would get. The Aggies answered with a 14-1 run of their own, capped by Julion Peare's three which made it a 25-point game.
Williams' 20 points came on 8-of-15 shooting, and it was the second game in a row where he connected from deep four times.
"It's good to see Jaleel going down the stretch of his senior year playing the way he is," said Wojcik. "It's good for him to have that kind of success because he is working hard for us."
San José State will host the Mountain West's top-team in San Diego State on Saturday night in The Event Center at 7:00 p.m.
Purchase your tickets to the game by calling the Spartan Ticket Office at 408-924-7589.
Newspaper Box Score
Utah State vs San Jose State
2/18/15 7:00 p.m. at The Event Center
At The Event Center
UTAH STATE 76, SAN JOSE STATE 54
UTAH STATE (15-10, 8-5 MW)
MOORE, Jalen 6-12 7-7 20; SMITH, Chris 6-8 3-4 17; HARRIS, Sean 3-4 3-3 9;
COLLETTE, David 4-7 0-0 8; PEARRE, Julion 3-5 0-0 7; ORCHARD, Sam 2-4 0-0 4;
McGLASTON, Jojo 1-3 1-4 4; BOLTON, Henry 1-2 1-3 3; PERKINS, Darius 1-1 0-0
3; JONES, Elston 0-1 1-2 1; FREY, Konner 0-0 0-0 0; NOMA'AEA, Viko 0-1 0-0
0; CURETON, Trace 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 27-50 16-23 76.
SAN JOSE STATE (2-23, 0-13 MW)
Williams, Jaleel 8-15 0-0 20; Muhammad, Rashad 3-10 4-6 12; Thornton, Isaac
4-7 0-0 9; Gaynor II, Darryl 3-8 1-2 9; Mitchell, Brandon 1-9 0-2 2; SINGER,
Ryan 0-2 1-2 1; Basor, Ivo 0-3 1-2 1; Mahoney, Danny 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 19-56
7-14 54.
Utah State.................... 40 36 - 76
San Jose State................ 27 27 - 54
3-point goals--Utah State 6-13 (SMITH, Chris 2-3; PERKINS, Darius 1-1;
PEARRE, Julion 1-2; MOORE, Jalen 1-4; McGLASTON, Jojo 1-1; NOMA'AEA, Viko
0-1; ORCHARD, Sam 0-1), San Jose State 9-24 (Williams, Jaleel 4-9; GAYNOR
II, Darryl 2-4; Muhammad, Rashad 2-5; Thornton, Isaac 1-2; Mahoney, Danny
0-1; Basor, Ivo 0-1; Mitchell, Brandon 0-2). Fouled out--Utah State-None,
San Jose State-None. Rebounds--Utah State 35 (SMITH, Chris 6; MOORE, Jalen
6), San Jose State 30 (Thornton, Isaac 7). Assists--Utah State 16 (SMITH,
Chris 4), San Jose State 17 (Muhammad, Rashad 5). Total fouls--Utah State
14, San Jose State 20. Technical fouls--Utah State-PERKINS, Darius, San Jose
State-WILLIAMS, Jaleel. A-1311
1H 5:47 - USU #2 EJECTED, FLAGRANT 2 CONTACT FOUL