Jan. 8, 2016
COLORADO STATE UP NEXT AT HOME FOR MEN'S HOOPSSan José State men's hoops returns to the Event Center Saturday afternoon for a 2:00 p.m. tip against Colorado State. A win would give the Spartans their first win in Mountain West play and their first win ever over the Rams. The two programs have met 10 times since the 1969-70 season. Tickets for Saturday's game are on sale at the Spartan Ticket Office. Fans can watch the game on the Spartan Digital Network or listen on KLIV 1590 AM and Stretch Internet Radio.
Game #16San José State (5-10, 0-3 MW) vs. Colorado State (9-6, 1-1 MW)Saturday, January 9, 2016, 2:00 p.m. PSTThe Event Center (5,000)San Jose, Calif.WATCH: Spartan Digital NetworkLISTEN: KLIV 1590 AM & Stretch Internet RadioGET YOUR TICKETS!Get your tickets for Saturday's game and every Spartan men's basketball home game by calling the Spartan Ticket office at 408-924-7589 or by visiting the website HERE.SPARTANS HANG TOUGH, BUT FALL SHORT AT SDSUSan José State was aggressive and used some fearless shooting by Ryan Welage and Princeton Onwas to hang around with San Diego State on Wednesday night. The Spartans cut an 11-point lead down to two before the half with a 13-2 run. Onwas had seven of his 17 first-half points during that surge. But throughout the second half, the Aztecs used its strength in the post and some clutch baskets by Jeremey Hemsley to pull away with the 77-62 victory. Welage and Onwas combined to shoot 50 percent from the floor and both finished with a game-high 23 points.WELAGE UNFAZED ON BIG STAGEFreshman forward Ryan Welage put on a display that at times seemed clinical to the 12,414 fans at Viejas Arena when the Spartans played the Aztecs Wednesday night. Welage was hitting from everywhere on the court - nailing an eight-foot jumper off the glass following one of his four offensive rebounds, draining a fade-away jumper from the top of the key during a 13-2 Spartans run to close the first half, and swishing a three that put the Spartans up 40-39 early in the second half. Following his season-high 23-point performance, the native of Greensburg, Ind., said he enjoys playing on a big stage and credited his teammates for getting him the ball in space.Princeton Onwas RISES TO OCCASION AT SAN DIEGO STATEPrinceton Onwas had a stellar first half including 17 points on 7 of 10 shooting against the Aztecs on Saturday. The Houston native became the best player on the floor the second an Aztec defender turned away to leave him wide open for a three-point shot. He went on to hit two more in the half including one at the buzzer that made it a two-point game. Onwas took over the game from the point guard position and helped erase an 11-point Aztec lead with some confident shooting. His performance was a carryover from the final six minutes of SJSU's previous game wen he led the team on an 18-2 charge.SCHWARTZ LOOKING FOR A BOUNCE-BACKAfter scoring in double-figures in five out of six games, the last to opponents have honed in on Spartans' freshman Cody Schwartz. He has gone scoreless in the last two game at Air Force and San Diego State, but only been allowed to shoot a combined five shots. Schwartz and the Spartans are taking on Colorado State Saturday, which gives up the most points in the Mountain West at 77.0 per game.SAN JOSÉ STATE VS. COLORADO STATESan José State is looking for its first win against Colorado State Saturday when the two programs will meet for the 11th time. Since joining CSU in the Mountain West starting in 2013-14, the average margin of victory over SJSU is 17.5 points (4 games). Prior to that, the last meeting between the teams was in 1999 at the Pearl Harbor Invitational where Colorado State won, 61-57.MORE ON THE RAMSColorado State comes in after a thrilling 66-65 win over UNLV at home on Wednesday night. An 84-80 loss at Boise State gives them a split 1-1 record in their first two Mountain West contests. The Rams lost their leading scorer, guard Gian Clavell (20.8 ppg) after ten games due to injury, but have plenty of other weapons that make them the MW's top-scoring offense (82.2). John Gillon is a veteran averaging 12.1 points and over four assists per game, while Emmanuel Omogbo leads the team in rebounding at 7.5 per game while scoring 11.9 point per game. While CSU leads the league in scoring offense, they have the league's worst defense by the same measure, allowing opposing teams 77.0 points per game.SPARTANS COME UP EMPTY IN OPENING WEEK OF MW PLAYSan José State lost its first two games of Mountain West play last week versus Utah State (80-71) and at Air Force (64-57). Although both contests ended with L's the team had its chances to win in the second half. It was a five-point game midway through the second period against the Aggies, and a late 18-2 run made for an exciting finish at Air Force. Huge scoring droughts and poor free throw shooting are what doomed the Spartans in both losses.LATE SURGE COMES UP SHORT AT AIR FORCEThe Spartans looked down and out, trailing Air Force by 21 points with seven minutes left to play, but charged back with an 18-2 run to make it an exciting finish. Princeton Onwas' layup with 1:23 left made it a five-point game. SJSU had two open looks at a three with under a minute to play, which would have made it a one-possession game, but both tries went off the iron. Frank Rogers scored all 10 of his points in the second half and hit two huge threes that facilitated the late surge. Jaycee Hillsman, Ryan Welage and Brandon Clarke all pitched in with buckets as well.LOOKING FOR MORE RUNS AND LESS DROUGHTSSan José State has made its fair share of runs in the past few games, but have had equally as many scoring droughts that have been costly. Against Air Force, the team had two separate dry spells in the first half that amounted to 9:11 of scoreless ball. Versus Utah State, SJSU made a 16-point lead nearly disappear with an 11-2 run. However the Aggies' next basket started a 14-2 run of their own, during which San José State was scoreless for 4:36.SPARTANS WEATHER THE DRY SPELL WITH SOLID DEFENSEOnly Colorado State has allowed more points than San José State among Mountain West teams this season. However, the one reason San José State was only trailing by nine points at halftime against Air Force was solid defense. The Spartans turned the ball over 11 times and only made two of their final 17 shots to close the half. However, the team held the Falcons to 34 percent shooting from the field and 0 of 9 from downtown in the first 20 minutes. The effort on defense led to a season-high eight blocks, and helped fuel the offense to an 18-2 run.