Jan. 16, 2016
Fresno, Calif. --- It was a tale of two halves and the San José State men's basketball showed exactly what it is capable of doing - shooting it's way out of a 19-point hole, but Marvelle Harris showed why he was voted the Mountain West Preseason Player of the Year, and Fresno State beat the Spartans 81-74 at the Save Mart Center.
The Spartans (6-12, 1-5 MW) trailed 55-36 with 12:45 left before Ryan Welage and the Spartans charged back with red-hot shooting. One of Welage's five threes in the game started the run. Then he hit two in a row that cut the lead down to four points, 59-55, with 8:50 left.
It was Cody Schwartz's three which made it 59-58 on the Spartans' next possession. However, Cezar Guerrero answered right back with a three of his own, and San José State would never end up seeing the lead.
The glaring stat in the game was Fresno State's 46 free throw attempts, of which they made 35. The Spartans finished the game 8 of 15 from the stripe.
Welage scored a season-high 28 points, and Brandon Clarke notched a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Harris, who leads the league in scoring in conference play, dropped 32 points on 9 of 14 shooting for Fresno State (12-6, 3-2 MW). He finished 12 of 15 from the free throw line, which all came in the second half.
San José State shot 30 percent (9-30) in the first half. It seemed like SJSU couldn't buy a basket, including Welage who was 0 for 6 from downtown. The Bulldogs took a 38-22 lead into the halftime locker room.
The Spartans looked like a new team when they came out of that locker room and hit their first three shots. San José State showed a number of different lineups, which at one point, featured both Danny Mahoney and Ivo Basor, but almost always had at least three true freshmen on the floor.
The team shot 53 percent from the floor in the final 20 minutes.
Welage was 7 of 8 from the floor and a perfect 5 of 5 from downtown in the second half. He and his fellow freshman Brandon Clarke combined to go 12 of 15 shooting in the second half.
Harris and the Bulldogs put the game away mostly with their free throws coupled with a Spartan turnover and missed three on back-to-back possessions.
The Spartans head on the road to face Boise State on Wednesday, January 20 at 7:00 p.m. (MT).
Newspaper Box Score
San José State vs Fresno State
01/16/16 4 p.m. PT at Save Mart Center --- Fresno, Calif.
At Save Mart Center --- Fresno, Calif.
FRESNO STATE 81, SAN JOSé STATE 74
SAN JOSé STATE (6-12 (1-5 MW))
Welage, Ryan 11-20 1-3 28; Clarke, Brandon 6-8 2-3 14; Hillsman, Jaycee 3-7
1-2 9; Schwartz, Cody 3-11 0-0 8; Thornton, Isaac 2-6 2-2 6; WILLIAMS, JR.,
Gary 2-6 0-0 5; Rogers, Frank 1-5 2-2 4; Bahner, Leon 0-1 0-0 0; ONWAS,
Princeton 0-1 0-3 0; Mahoney, Danny 0-1 0-0 0; Basor, Ivo 0-0 0-0 0. Totals
28-66 8-15 74.
FRESNO STATE (12-6 (3-2 MW))
HARRIS, Marvelle 9-14 12-15 32; JONES, Torren 1-5 9-10 11; WATSON, Paul 3-5
2-4 10; LEWIS, Julien 2-3 4-4 9; EDO, Karachi 2-4 3-4 7; GUERRERO, Cezar 1-4
4-6 7; RUSSO, Cullen 2-6 1-2 5; CARTER, Terrell 0-1 0-0 0; ELLISON, Lionel
0-0 0-1 0; TAYLOR, Jahmel 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-42 35-46 81.
San José State................ 22 52 - 74
Fresno State.................. 38 43 - 81
3-point goals--San José State 10-29 (Welage, Ryan 5-11; Schwartz, Cody 2-6;
Hillsman, Jaycee 2-4; Williams, Jr., Gary 1-2; Onwas, Princeton 0-1;
Mahoney, Danny 0-1; Rogers, Frank 0-3; Thornton, Isaac 0-1), Fresno State
6-10 (WATSON, Paul 2-2; HARRIS, Marvelle 2-4; LEWIS, Julien 1-1; GUERRERO,
Cezar 1-2; RUSSO, Cullen 0-1). Fouled out--San José State-ROGERS, Frank;
Schwartz, Cody; Hillsman, Jaycee, Fresno State-None. Rebounds--San José
State 34 (Clarke, Brandon 12), Fresno State 40 (JONES, Torren 13).
Assists--San José State 12 (Hillsman, Jaycee 4), Fresno State 9 (HARRIS,
Marvelle 3). Total fouls--San José State 29, Fresno State 21. Technical
fouls--San José State-None, Fresno State-None. A-6457