Dec. 7, 2016
Missoula, Mont. --- A thrilling run in the second half nearly erased a dismal start for the San José State men's basketball team, but Montana held on for an 81-62 victory that ended the Spartans' win streak at three games.
Trailing 52-34 with 15:26 left in the second half, Gary Williams, Jr., produced SJSU's first real rhythm of the game with five straight points on a 3-ball and a jumper. Then Brandon Clarke's thunderous two-handed jam plus a Jalen James three-pointer and fast-break layup were all part of an 11-0 run which cut Montana's 17-point lead down to just six, 62-56.
Clarke's tip-in with 7:18 left to play made it 64-58 Montana lead, but the Spartans would get no closer.
Montana was right there to answer with an 8-0 run of its own, with a lob to Michael Oguine and consecutive Jack Lopez 3-pointers. The Grizzlies ended on a 14-2 run to put the game away.
The Spartans (4-4) opened the game 1-of-9 from the floor and had nine first-half turnovers. Meanwhile, Montana (3-6) shot 64.0 percent (16-25) in the opening period with Walter Wright leading the way with 14 points.
San José State went into the break trailing by 16, 46-30 - a deficit that the team faced at halftime twice all of last season.
A huge disparity in the game was free-throw shooting as Montana knocked down 20-of-23 while San José State hit 9-of-20. SJSU was also outrebounded by the Grizzlies 37-29.
Montana scored 30 points off of SJSU's season-high 19 turnovers. Grizzlies 6-foot-8 forward Fabijan Krslovic recorded eight steals which broke a 10-year-old single-game record by a San José State opponent.
Krslovic was one of five Grizzlies in double-figure scoring, led by Wright with a game-high 19 points.
Clarke led SJSU in scoring with 11 points - Nine of which came in the second half when SJSU shot 51.9 percent (14-27). Williams, Jr., finished with a very loud nine points and six rebounds - seven of which helped the Spartans climb back in the second half.
San José State returns home to face Life Pacific College on Saturday, December 10, for a 2:00 p.m. tip.
Newspaper Box Score
San Jose State vs Montana
12/7/16 7:05 PM at Missoula, Mont. (Dahlberg Arena)
At Missoula, Mont. (Dahlberg Arena)
MONTANA 81, SAN JOSE STATE 62
SAN JOSE STATE (4-4)
Clarke, Brandon 5-12 1-2 11; WILLIAMS, JR. GARY 4-8 0-0 9; James, Jalen 3-5
0-0 8; Hillsman, Jaycee 3-4 0-0 7; Thornton, Isaac 1-3 4-6 7; Schwartz, Cody
2-6 0-0 6; Welage, Ryan 2-6 2-2 6; Nichols, Isaiah 2-3 1-7 5; Brown, Terrell
1-4 0-0 2; Mitchell, Brandon 0-2 1-2 1; Chastain, Ashtin 0-0 0-0 0; SINGER,
Ryan 0-0 0-0 0; Boyce, E.J. 0-0 0-1 0. Totals 23-53 9-20 62.
MONTANA (3-6)
Wright,Walter 7-14 4-4 19; Oguine,Michael 4-8 8-8 16; Lopez,Jack 5-8 1-2 15;
Rorie,Ahmaad 4-9 5-5 13; Krslovic,Fabijan 5-6 1-3 11; Pridgett,Sayeed 2-3
0-0 4; Samuelson,Jared 1-2 1-1 3; Gfeller,Brandon 0-2 0-0 0;
Misipeka-Ward,Aaron 0-0 0-0 0; Dejong,Gavin 0-1 0-0 0; Moorehead,Bobby 0-1
0-0 0; Spoja,Trever 0-0 0-0 0; Dunn,Mario 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-54 20-23 81.
San Jose State................ 30 32 - 62
Montana....................... 46 35 - 81
3-point goals--San Jose State 7-19 (Schwartz, Cody 2-5; James, Jalen 2-3;
WILLIAMS, JR. GARY 1-2; Hillsman, Jaycee 1-2; Thornton, Isaac 1-3; MITCHELL,
Brandon 0-1; Brown, Terrell 0-3), Montana 5-17 (Lopez,Jack 4-6;
Wright,Walter 1-5; Rorie,Ahmaad 0-2; Gfeller,Brandon 0-2; Moorehead,Bobby
0-1; Oguine,Michael 0-1). Fouled out--San Jose State-None, Montana-None.
Rebounds--San Jose State 29 (Welage, Ryan 6; WILLIAMS, JR. GARY 6), Montana
37 (Krslovic,Fabijan 13). Assists--San Jose State 9 (Brown, Terrell 3),
Montana 14 (Wright,Walter 7). Total fouls--San Jose State 19, Montana 22.
Technical fouls--San Jose State-None, Montana-None. A-3024