Dec. 27, 2017
Logan, Utah --- The San José State men's basketball team committed a season-high 23 turnovers, making it impossible to recover from falling behind 20-5 to begin the Mountain West opener at Utah State and lost to the Aggies, 86-72, inside the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
Utah State scored 36 points off of San José State turnovers while just four Aggies blunders led to three points for the Spartans. The Spartans shot 50 percent from the field - including 69.6 percent (16-23) in the second half - made 57.9 percent (11-19) of their 3-pointers and Out-rebounded the Aggies 40-23. But the turnovers simply wiped out all of those things in what was San José State's 21st consecutive loss to Utah State dating back to 2008.
San José State (3-9, 0-1 MW) turned the ball over 12 times in the first half and fell behind by as many as 19 in the early goings. An 8-0 run with four points each from Oumar Barry and Jaycee Hillsman brought the Spartans within nine, 37-28, before halftime. But Utah State (8-6, 1-0 MW) closed the period on a 7-0 run and took a 16-point lead into the locker room.
The Aggies ran away with the second half thanks to more Spartan turnovers. SJSU gave it away five times in a span of 2:16 beginning at the 16:56 mark in the second period. At that point Aggies guard Sam Merrill banged a three following a Jalen James turnover and that took the Utah State lead up to 23 points, 60-37.
Merrill and sophomore backcourt mate Koby McEwen torched the Spartans in both games last season, and they did so again on Wednesday night. Merrill ended the game with 18 points and nine assists while McEwen dropped a game-high 24 points, grabbed seven boards and had five assists. The two combined to make nine 3-pointers against the Spartans.
Dwayne Brown, Jr., was also a force with 16 points of which 14 came in the first period to help Utah State gain its initial separation. Diogo Brito rounded out the USU double-figure scorers with 11 points.
Ryan Welage led the Spartans in scoring for the ninth time this season with 22 points. It is the seventh game of 20 or more points for Welage this season. He nailed four 3-pointers, giving him 123 for his career moving him into a tie for fourth place on SJSU's all-time list alongside Michael Quinney (1998-99).
Jaycee Hillsman matched his career-scoring high with 18 points.
The Spartans return home and continue Mountain West action against Colorado State on Dec. 30. Tipoff on Saturday afternoon is set for 2:00 p.m. (PT).
Newspaper Box Score
San José State vs Utah State
12/27/17 7 p.m. at Logan, Utah (Dee Glen Smith Spectrum)
At Logan, Utah (Dee Glen Smith Spectrum)
UTAH STATE 86, SAN JOSé STATE 72
SAN JOSé STATE (3-9, 0-1 MW)
Welage, Ryan 8-14 2-2 22; Hillsman, Jaycee 4-6 8-8 18; Baumann, Noah 3-3 0-0
9; Barry, Oumar 3-6 1-3 7; Chastain, Ashtin 3-7 0-0 6; Nichols, Isaiah 2-3
0-0 5; James, Jalen 1-4 0-0 3; Mitchell, Brandon 1-3 0-0 2; Simmons, Caleb
0-0 0-0 0; FISHER, Keith 0-3 0-0 0; Carlisle, Nai 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-50
11-13 72.
UTAH STATE (8-6, 1-0 MW)
McEWEN, Koby 8-19 3-3 24; MERRILL, Sam 7-12 0-0 18; BROWN JR., Dwayne 7-10
1-2 16; BRITO, Diogo 4-7 2-3 11; DARGENTON, Alex 4-6 1-1 9; TAYLOR, Quinn
2-4 1-1 5; HENSON, Daron 1-5 0-0 3; PORTER, Abel 0-0 0-0 0; PEARRE, Julion
0-3 0-0 0; AINGE, Crew 0-1 0-0 0; ISBY, DeAngelo 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 33-70
8-10 86.
San José State................ 28 44 - 72
Utah State.................... 44 42 - 86
3-point goals--San José State 11-19 (Welage, Ryan 4-7; Baumann, Noah 3-3;
Hillsman, Jaycee 2-2; Nichols, Isaiah 1-1; James, Jalen 1-3; Carlisle, Nai
0-1; Chastain, Ashtin 0-1; Barry, Oumar 0-1), Utah State 12-33 (McEWEN, Koby
5-12; MERRILL, Sam 4-8; BRITO, Diogo 1-3; BROWN JR., Dwayne 1-3; HENSON,
Daron 1-4; PEARRE, Julion 0-1; ISBY, DeAngelo 0-1; TAYLOR, Quinn 0-1).
Fouled out--San José State-None, Utah State-None. Rebounds--San José State
40 (Welage, Ryan 8), Utah State 23 (McEWEN, Koby 7). Assists--San José State
16 (Hillsman, Jaycee 3; James, Jalen 3; Nichols, Isaiah 3), Utah State 23
(MERRILL, Sam 9). Total fouls--San José State 13, Utah State 17. Technical
fouls--San José State-None, Utah State-None. A-6759