Nov. 16, 2015
San Jose, Calif. --- Princeton Onwas flushed a transition dunk with 12 seconds remaining to put an end to a wire-to-wire contest and secure a 64-61 win for the San José State men's basketball team over Montana in nonconference play Monday night.Leading 62-61 with 14 seconds left, Ryan Welage heaved an inbound pass from the baseline underneath Montana's basket over everyone and into the hands of a streaking Onwas. After the jam, Walter Wright missed a desperation three-ball that was the Grizzlies' last gasp."We had that play in for a special situation," said Spartans' head coach Dave Wojcik "Welage is a really poised kid for a freshman. I didn't know if I wanted to have a freshman inbound it there, but he can make plays. And then Princeton did a great job finishing it off."SJSU took the lead at the 15:53 mark in the first half, and never relinquished it.Gary Williams, Jr. went for a five point burst that included a three pointer to put the Spartans up 28-20 with 4:20 remaining in the opening half. Frank Rogers extended it to 11 with a three of his own, and Isaac Thornton's dunk with 51 seconds gave San José State its largest lead of 14 points.Montana slowly chipped away at the lead throughout the second half, and eventually got it down to one point, 49-48, with 8:16 remaining. From there, the two teams went back and forth the rest of the way.Williams, Jr., made a layup and Brandon Clarke was on the receiving end of an alley-oop from Welage, which he slammed home to put the Spartans up five with 6:42 left. Back-to-back layups by Jack Lopez and Fabijan Krslovic got Montana right back to 55-54 with just under five minutes to play.San José State went through Frank Rogers in the final four minutes. His layup with 1:23 left to give the Spartans a 62-59 advantage was second only to Onwas' finishing slam as far as big plays went for SJSU. Rogers was fouled on the play, but did not convert the and-one. He ended the game 9 of 13 from the stripe."I was just trying to run the floor and post up hard," Rogers said. "My teammates were finding me and I was able to make the moves. I just tried to play hard and reward myself by getting to the line."San José State was 20 of 33 from the line, but Montana wasn't any better at 18 of 30. Two of those 18 for Montana were Brandon Gfeller's with 14 seconds left which got it to 62-61. The Spartans came out of the full timeout called by Montana and ran the outlet play which sealed the game."We won that game," Wojcik said. "It was a hard-fought game, and I'm proud of my guys. They took the game. They didn't give it up. It came down to the final possession and we knew that Montana is a cagey veteran team that wouldn't just lay down."The win is SJSU's first against a Division I opponent since beating Nevada on the road on February 18, 2014. It ends a 21-game losing streak dating back to last season and an 11-game losing streak at home."It was one of the best feelings anybody can ask for really," Onwas said. "Especially when coach Wojcik walked in the room. Everybody just started yelling and jumping up and down. But it really just feels good because we worked hard and practiced really hard for it.""I'm thrilled to death, I'll be honest with you," Wojcik said. "I can't really describe it, but I'm happy for our guys, my staff and the managers. Everyone is really happy."Rogers finished with a game-high 16 points and 10 rebounds. Onwas and Williams, Jr., pitched in 11 and 10 points respectively. Welage had a double-double for the second straight game with 10 points and as many boards to go along with three assists.The Spartans head on the road to face Montana State Friday night at 8:05 p.m. MT.Newspaper Box Score
Montana vs San José State11/16/15 7:00 PM at The Event CenterAt The Event Center
SAN JOSé STATE 64, MONTANA 61
MONTANA (1-1)WRIGHT, Walter 5-16 3-5 13; OGUINE, Michael 2-7 7-9 12; KRSLOVIC, Fabijan5-6 0-0 10; GFELLER, Brandon 1-5 5-6 8; BREUNIG, Martin 3-8 2-6 8; LOPEZ,Jack 2-3 0-0 4; MOOREHEAD, Bobby 1-6 0-0 3; DEJONG, Gavin 1-2 0-2 2;BRADSHAW, Riley 0-1 1-2 1; BOEHNING, Bryden 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-54 18-3061.
SAN JOSé STATE (1-1)Rogers, Frank 3-9 9-13 16; Onwas, Princeton 4-8 3-4 11; Williams, Jr., Gary4-8 0-0 10; Welage, Ryan 4-8 0-2 10; Clarke, Brandon 2-6 3-6 7; James, Jalen0-3 4-6 4; Schwartz, Cody 1-4 0-0 3; Thornton, Isaac 1-2 0-0 2; HILLSMAN,Jaycee 0-1 1-2 1; Bahner, Leon 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-50 20-33 64.
Montana 24 37 61San José State 36 28 64
3-point goals--Montana 3-16 (OGUINE, Michael 1-3; GFELLER, Brandon 1-4;MOOREHEAD, Bobby 1-5; LOPEZ, Jack 0-1; WRIGHT, Walter 0-3), San José State6-17 (Williams, Jr., Gary 2-4; Welage, Ryan 2-3; Schwartz, Cody 1-4; ROGERS,Frank 1-2; James, Jalen 0-2; Clarke, Brandon 0-1; Onwas, Princeton 0-1).Fouled out--Montana-KRSLOVIC, Fabijan, San José State-None.Rebounds--Montana 29 (GFELLER, Brandon 6; WRIGHT, Walter 6), San José State46 (Rogers, Frank 10; Welage, Ryan 10). Assists--Montana 10 (OGUINE, Michael2; WRIGHT, Walter 2; GFELLER, Brandon 2; BRADSHAW, Riley 2), San José State12 (Welage, Ryan 3). Total fouls--Montana 27, San José State 25. Technicalfouls--Montana-TEAM, San José State-None. A-1231