Dec. 21, 2017
Santa Clara, Calif. --- The San José State men's basketball team defeated Santa Clara, 75-63, at the Leavey Center in the nonconference finale for both teams.
It is the first win for the Spartans (3-8) on the road against the Broncos (3-9) since 2009. The victory makes it two in a row over Santa Clara which hasn't happened since back-to-back December wins in 1985 and 1986.
San José State's Ryan Welage led the team with 21 points and Keith Fisher III notched his first collegiate double-double with career-highs of 15 points and 13 rebounds.
Santa Clara missed its first 16 shot attempts in the opening period and the Spartans built a 17-4 lead by the 8:30 mark. The first basket of the game for the Broncos was a KJ Feagin 3-pointer with 7:17 to play in the first half.
Ashtin Chastain answered right back with a layup off of a pass inside from Jaycee Hillsman. San José State kept the pedal on the metal and built their largest lead of 26 points with a pair of Oumar Barry free throws with 2:51 remaining in the half.
Santa Clara finished the half making just 5-of-18 (17.9 percent) field goals, making it the lowest percentage by a Spartan opponent since the second half of last year's game against the same Broncos on December 3, 2016. Santa Clara shot just 16.7 percent (3-18) in that period.
But it was a different story for Santa Clara in the second period Thursday's game.
The Broncos drilled 10 threes, five of which came from Feagin. The three-point shooting coupled with a staunch full-court press which force 14 SJSU turnovers brought Santa Clara all the way back within five points, 58-53, with 5:31 left to play.
Meanwhile the Spartans went 7:05 without a field goal. Hillsman hit a jumper with 10:09 remaining to give SJSU a 56-40 lead, and then the next and last Spartan bucket was a Fisher layup with 2:14 to play.
The Spartans scored 17 of their final 19 points at the free throw line where they hit 19-of-23 in the second period. SJSU finished the game 26-of-33 from the stripe while Santa Clara was just 9-of-15. The Broncos attempted a season-high 42 three-point baskets, making 12, while the Spartans were 5-of-12 from downtown. San José State committed 20 turnovers leading to 22 points for the Broncos who turned it over just seven times.
Barry matched his career-high with 12 points and Hillsman and Chastain both finished with eight points and six rebounds.
Feagin scored a game-high 24 points for Santa Clara with Henry Caruso and Matt Hauser in double-figure scoring with 13 and 11 points respectively.
San José State's next game happens after the Christmas break on December 27 when it heads to Utah State for the Mountain West opener.
Newspaper Box Score
San José State vs Santa Clara
12/21/17 7 p.m. at Leavey Center (Santa Clara, Calif.)
At Leavey Center (Santa Clara, Calif.)
SAN JOSé STATE 75, SANTA CLARA 63
SAN JOSé STATE (3-8)
Welage, Ryan 5-12 7-8 21; FISHER, Keith 4-8 7-7 15; Barry, Oumar 3-6 6-6 12;
Chastain, Ashtin 3-4 2-5 8; Hillsman, Jaycee 3-4 2-3 8; Nichols, Isaiah 2-4
0-0 5; James, Jalen 1-2 2-2 4; Mitchell, Brandon 1-2 0-0 2; Simmons, Caleb
0-1 0-0 0; Baumann, Noah 0-2 0-0 0; Carlisle, Nai 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 22-45
26-33 75.
SANTA CLARA (3-9)
FEAGIN, KJ 8-24 2-2 24; CARUSO, Henry 4-11 4-7 13; HAUSER, Matt 4-17 0-0 11;
WALTERS, Shaquille 2-3 1-2 6; TURNER, Matt 1-5 0-0 3; PUGH, Jarvis 0-2 2-2
2; JADERSTEN, Henrik 1-4 0-0 2; HEALY, Kai 1-3 0-0 2; ROCHE, Julian 0-0 0-0
0; NDUMANYA, Emmanuel 0-1 0-2 0. Totals 21-70 9-15 63.
San José State................ 39 36 - 75
Santa Clara................... 18 45 - 63
3-point goals--San José State 5-12 (Welage, Ryan 4-8; Nichols, Isaiah 1-2;
Chastain, Ashtin 0-1; Simmons, Caleb 0-1), Santa Clara 12-42 (FEAGIN, KJ
6-17; HAUSER, Matt 3-11; WALTERS, Shaquille 1-2; CARUSO, Henry 1-4; TURNER,
Matt 1-4; HEALY, Kai 0-1; JADERSTEN, Henrik 0-2; PUGH, Jarvis 0-1). Fouled
out--San José State-None, Santa Clara-CARUSO, Henry; NDUMANYA, Emmanuel.
Rebounds--San José State 44 (FISHER, Keith 13), Santa Clara 35 (NDUMANYA,
Emmanuel 9). Assists--San José State 15 (Baumann, Noah 4; Carlisle, Nai 4),
Santa Clara 13 (HAUSER, Matt 5). Total fouls--San José State 18, Santa Clara
28. Technical fouls--San José State-None, Santa Clara-None. A-2406