Jan. 10, 2018
San Diego, Calif. --- Only 14 players in the 108-year history of San José State men's basketball have reached 1,000-career points. That was until junior forward Ryan Welage became the program's 15th on Tuesday night when he swished a free throw for point number 1,000.
The Greensburg, Ind., native earned his trip to the foul line when he was hacked driving to the rim with 4:12 remaining in the second half of San José State's 85-49 loss at San Diego State. He shot the free throws like they were any random pair of freebies and the second-best free throw shooter in the Mountain West (86.4 percent) drilled them both for points 999 and 1,000.
Welage finished with eight points, which is 10 points below his season average, and was 3-of-14 shooting. San José State shot 30.6 percent (16-52) as a team, making it back-to-back games with a season-low shooting percentage. The Spartans shot 31.8 percent in the last game at New Mexico.
It was a three-point game, 24-21, with 4:31 to play in the first half. But San Diego State (11-4, 3-1 MW) pushed the lead to nine, 32-23, by halftime. Ashtin Chastain made the first basket of the second half and then the Aztecs went on a 16-0 run to blow the game open.
The big free throws for Welage made it 68-38 San Diego State lead with 4:12 to go. With 1:36 remaining SDSU took its largest lead of 42 points.
Keith Fisher scored a team-high 14 points for the Spartans (3-13, 0-5 MW) and Jaycee Hillsman finished the game with 10 points. Max Montana and Malik Pope both scored a game-high 17 points for San Diego State.
Welage is the first Spartan to reach the 1,000-point plateau since Justin Graham did it in 2011. Tuesday night was the 77th game of Welage's career.
Welage and the Spartans play their next game on Saturday, January 13, against Air Force. Tipoff is set for 2:00 p.m. (PT).
Newspaper Box Score
San José State vs SAN DIEGO STATE
01-09-18 8:10 pm PST at Steve Fisher Court at Viejas Arena
At Steve Fisher Court at Viejas Arena
SAN DIEGO STATE 85, SAN JOSé STATE 49
SAN JOSé STATE (3-13 (0-5 MW))
FISHER, Keith 4-11 6-6 14; Hillsman, Jaycee 4-8 2-5 10; Welage, Ryan 3-14
2-2 8; Chastain, Ashtin 2-4 1-2 6; Mitchell, Brandon 1-2 1-2 3; CARLISLE,
Nai 1-2 0-0 2; Barry, Oumar 1-3 0-1 2; Nichols, Isaiah 0-5 2-2 2; BAUMANN,
Noah 0-3 2-3 2; James, Jalen 0-0 0-0 0; Simmons, Caleb 0-0 0-0 0. Totals
16-52 16-23 49.
SAN DIEGO STATE (11-4 (3-1 MW))
MONTANA, Max 6-10 2-2 17; POPE, Malik 8-10 0-0 17; WATSON, Devin 6-9 3-3 15;
MCDANIELS, Jalen 6-8 1-2 13; MITCHELL, Matt 3-9 0-0 7; SCHAKEL, Jordan 2-7
0-0 6; KELL, Trey 2-4 0-0 5; ROOKS, Kameron 1-1 1-2 3; SOHIKISH, Michael 1-1
0-0 2; HEMSLEY, Jeremy 0-7 0-0 0; NARAIN, Nolan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 35-66 7-9
85.
San José State................ 23 26 - 49
SAN DIEGO STATE............... 32 53 - 85
3-point goals--San José State 1-11 (Chastain, Ashtin 1-1; Hillsman, Jaycee
0-2; Welage, Ryan 0-3; Mitchell, Brandon 0-1; Nichols, Isaiah 0-2; BAUMANN,
Noah 0-2), SAN DIEGO STATE 8-27 (MONTANA, Max 3-7; SCHAKEL, Jordan 2-4;
MITCHELL, Matt 1-6; POPE, Malik 1-1; KELL, Trey 1-2; HEMSLEY, Jeremy 0-3;
MCDANIELS, Jalen 0-2; WATSON, Devin 0-2). Fouled out--San José State-None,
SAN DIEGO STATE-MITCHELL, Matt. Rebounds--San José State 35 (Welage, Ryan
8), SAN DIEGO STATE 35 (MCDANIELS, Jalen 7). Assists--San José State 4
(James, Jalen 1; FISHER, Keith 1; Welage, Ryan 1; Hillsman, Jaycee 1), SAN
DIEGO STATE 25 (KELL, Trey 7). Total fouls--San José State 12, SAN DIEGO
STATE 20. Technical fouls--San José State-FISHER, Keith, SAN DIEGO
STATE-None. A-11761