Dec. 8, 2015
Milwaukee, Wis. --- The San José State men's basketball team had the resilience to climb out of a 24-point hole early in the contest, but ultimately were unable to hold off Marquette in an 80-62 loss at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.Just 10 minutes into the game, the Spartans (4-5) were staring at a 24-point deficit, and had no answer for Marquette's Sandy Cohen's 17-point burst. But SJSU proved it was nowhere near finished when it chipped away until the Marquette lead was down to nine at the half."They got us down early, but our kids aren't going to give in," said Spartans' head coach Dave Wojcik. "We are going to fight scratch and claw. We'll do what ever we have to do to get back in it."Brandon Clarke provided a spark off the bench by knocking down a couple of jumpers, and then slamming one down for his sixth point in just under three minutes. Princeton Onwas and Isaac Thornton each hit a pair of free throws to make it 38-24 with 3:25 left in the half. Leon Bahner's jumper in the paint with 41 second left made it five straight makes from the field, and sent the Spartans to the locker room down 40-31."We executed and our bench came in and gave us good minutes," Wojcik said. "We slowed the game down, and we made them play defense. We ran good stuff offensively, and we were understanding where our shots were coming from, which wasn't happening in the first 10 minutes."Coming out of the break, Cody Schwartz drove the lane and executed a conventional three-point play to make it a six-point game.
The two teams went back and forth throughout the next 10 minutes. Frank Rogers got in the mix with a jumper and a three-ball. Clarke continued with another dunk and a tip-in that made it 53-45 with 13:25 left.It was Cohen with the hot hand in the first half for Marquette, and then the Golden Eagles' leading scorer, Henry Ellenson, stepped up with 14 of his game-high 24 points in the second half.Marquette slowly grew the lead in the final 10 minutes of the contest. Duane Wilson his two big threes.San José State played even with Marquette (7-2) down low, ending with 16 points in the paint to their 18. But the Spartans' 18 turnovers were double that of the Golden Eagles.Onwas finished with 15 points to lead the Spartans. Gary Williams, Jr., and Clarke each finished with 10."This was a good experience for our young guys," Wojcik said. "I want these guys to understand what other teams are doing to help us prepare for Mountain West play. We are going to continue to build our schedule each year."San José State returns home on Sunday, December 13, for a 2:00 p.m., tip against Montana State.
Newspaper Box Score
San José State vs Marquette
12/8/15 7 p.m. CT at Milwaukee, Wis. (BMO Harris Bradley Ctr)
At Milwaukee, Wis. (BMO Harris Bradley Ctr)
MARQUETTE 80, SAN JOSé STATE 62
SAN JOSé STATE (4-5)
Onwas, Princeton 5-15 5-9 15; Clarke, Brandon 5-7 0-0 10; WILLIAMS, JR.,
Gary 3-7 2-2 10; Rogers, Frank 3-9 0-1 7; Schwartz, Cody 2-8 1-1 6; WELAGE,
Ryan 3-8 0-0 6; Bahner, Leon 2-4 0-0 4; Thornton, Isaac 0-3 2-2 2; HILLSMAN,
Jaycee 0-1 2-2 2. Totals 23-62 12-17 62.
MARQUETTE (7-2)
COHEN III, Sandy 8-15 2-3 24; ELLENSON, Henry 8-18 4-5 20; WILSON, Duane
5-13 0-0 14; FISCHER, Luke 5-7 1-3 11; CARTER, Traci 2-8 3-4 8; JOHNSON,
Jajuan 0-3 2-2 2; CHEATHAM, Haanif 0-4 1-2 1; ELLENSON, Wally 0-1 0-1 0.
Totals 28-69 13-20 80.
San José State................ 31 31 - 62
Marquette..................... 40 40 - 80
3-point goals--San José State 4-22 (Williams, Jr., Gary 2-4; Schwartz, Cody
1-5; Rogers, Frank 1-4; Thornton, Isaac 0-2; Welage, Ryan 0-3; ONWAS,
Princeton 0-4), Marquette 11-28 (COHEN III, Sandy 6-10; WILSON, Duane 4-9;
CARTER, Traci 1-3; JOHNSON, Jajuan 0-2; ELLENSON, Wally 0-1; ELLENSON, Henry
0-3). Fouled out--San José State-None, Marquette-None. Rebounds--San José
State 42 (Welage, Ryan 9), Marquette 46 (FISCHER, Luke 13). Assists--San
José State 16 (Thornton, Isaac 4; Onwas, Princeton 4; Schwartz, Cody 4),
Marquette 19 (CARTER, Traci 6). Total fouls--San José State 19, Marquette
20. Technical fouls--San José State-None, Marquette-CARTER, Traci. A-11696