March 8, 2017
Las Vegas, Nev. - The San Jose State men's basketball team was tied 31-31 at the half, but the saw Utah State shoot 63 percent in the second half and never look back in a 90-64 win in the first round of the 2017 Mountain West Basketball Championships.
Ryan Welage led the Spartans (14-16) with 14 points and had two of the team's seven three-pointers on the day. It was his 11th straight game with double digit scoring. Isaac Thornton, in his final game as a Spartan, was also in double figures with 10 points. Brandon Clarke went 6-of-8 from the line, but was limited to eight points and pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds.
Utah State (14-16) pounded the ball inside in the second half, outscoring SJSU 28-8 in the lane, but they began to pull away with a Koby McEwen three pointer. McEwen, who led all scorers with 27 points, sparked a 14-4 run over four minutes in the second half and staked the Aggies to a lead they would never relinquish.
The Spartans made a run midway through the half, cutting the lead to four. Trailing 55-44 inside of 10 minutes to play, Welage hit a jumper and Thornton made a layup and three-pointer to make it 55-51, but from there the Aggies blew it open.
They went on an 18-0 run over the next four and a half minutes led by another five points from McEwen. Jalen Moore who added 19 point for USU hit a thunderous dunk, which turned into a three-point play, to put an exclamation point on the run.
The Aggies would continue to pull away and cruise to the 26-point win there 20th in a row against the Spartans.
Newspaper Box Score
San Jose State vs Utah State
03/08/17 11:00 AM at Las Vegas, Nev. (Thomas & Mack Center)
At Las Vegas, Nev. (Thomas & Mack Center)
UTAH STATE 90, SAN JOSE STATE 64
SAN JOSE STATE (14-16)
Welage, Ryan 5-13 2-2 14; Thornton, Isaac 4-5 0-0 10; Clarke, Brandon 1-4
6-8 8; WILLIAMS, JR. GARY 3-8 2-3 8; James, Jalen 1-2 4-5 7; Nichols, Isaiah
1-3 3-4 6; Mitchell, Brandon 2-4 0-1 5; Brown, Terrell 0-6 4-4 4; HILLSMAN,
Jaycee 1-2 0-0 2; Chastain, Ashtin 0-0 0-0 0; Schwartz, Cody 0-4 0-0 0;
Singer, Ryan 0-0 0-0 0; Boyce, E.J. 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-51 21-27 64.
UTAH STATE (14-16)
McEWEN, Koby 9-12 4-5 27; MOORE, Jalen 7-14 4-6 19; TAYLOR, Quinn 5-7 1-1
11; MERRILL, Sam 5-9 0-0 11; PEARRE, Julion 3-5 0-0 9; JANICEK, Norbert 2-5
2-4 6; RECTOR, Shane 1-5 3-4 5; GARNER, Connor 1-2 0-0 2; BRITO, Diogo 0-0
0-0 0; DARGENTON, Alexis 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 33-59 14-20 90.
San Jose State................ 31 33 - 64
Utah State.................... 31 59 - 90
3-point goals--San Jose State 7-19 (Welage, Ryan 2-6; Thornton, Isaac 2-3;
James, Jalen 1-2; Nichols, Isaiah 1-2; Mitchell, Brandon 1-1; Schwartz, Cody
0-2; Brown, Terrell 0-1; WILLIAMS, JR. GARY 0-2), Utah State 10-17 (McEWEN,
Koby 5-5; PEARRE, Julion 3-4; MERRILL, Sam 1-3; MOORE, Jalen 1-3; GARNER,
Connor 0-1; RECTOR, Shane 0-1). Fouled out--San Jose State-None, Utah
State-None. Rebounds--San Jose State 33 (Clarke, Brandon 13), Utah State 31
(MOORE, Jalen 7). Assists--San Jose State 11 (Brown, Terrell 5), Utah State
22 (MERRILL, Sam 8). Total fouls--San Jose State 22, Utah State 21.
Technical fouls--San Jose State-None, Utah State-None.
2017 Mountain West Men's Basketball Championships First Round
Winner advances to Thursday's quarterfinals vs #1 Nevada at 12 pm