Jan. 13, 2018
San Jose, Calif.----- For the San Jose State University men's basketball team, its Saturday afternoon home game with Air Force was like a sandwich with a tasty filling surrounded on two sides by stale bread.
Looking for their first conference win of the season, the Spartans wiped out an 18-point first-half deficit and led 51-50 with just over nine minutes remaining, but lost to the Falcons (7-10, 1-4 Mountain West), 78-71, in a Mountain West conference contest.
San Jose State (3-14, 0-6 Mountain West) had four players in double-figure scoring led by forward Ryan Welage with 17 points and a team-high 8 rebounds. Jalen James scored 13; Noah Baumann, 11; and Keith Fisher III, 10, for the Spartans.
Despite trailing 33-15 with 7:27 to go in the first half, San Jose State's best first-half field goal shooting of the season got the Spartans back into the game. San Jose State shot 58.3 percent in the first 20 minutes and trailed, 40-34, go into the intermission.
The Spartans took their first lead of the game when Baumann nailed a pair of back-to-back baskets, first a stop-and-pop shot from 13-feet on the left side, and then a top-of-the-key three-pointer that put the Spartans ahead 45-42 with 16:14 to go for the team's biggest lead of the game.
The lead changed four more times before a Trevor Lyons' basket for Air Force put the Falcons ahead for good at 52-51.
Forward Ryan Swan led the Falcons in scoring with a career-high 19. Jacob Van came off the bench with 14 matching his season-high.
San Jose State had a 51-50 lead and had Air Force in team foul trouble with 9:31 to go, but didn't get to the free throw line for the next six minutes. By then, Air Force was ahead 61-55 before a Welage three-point play pulled the Spartans to 61-58 at the 3:55 mark, the closest San Jose State would get the rest of the game.
Air Force ended its four-game losing streak shooting 41.1 percent from the field. The Falcons made just enough free throws, 13-of-21, in the final 2:00 to get its first conference win.
San Jose State's hot shooting first half didn't last. The Spartans only made 10-of-27 shots in the second half to finish with a 47.1 percent field goal percentage.
San Jose State, now with a six-game losing streak, did match a season-low nine turnovers compared to the 20.5 they had been averaging the previous six games.
The Spartans' next chance for a conference win is Wednesday, January 17, hosting conference leader Nevada, in an 8:00 p.m. game.
Newspaper Box Score
Air Force vs San José State
01/13/18 2:00 PM at San Jose, Calif. (The Event Center)
At San Jose, Calif. (The Event Center)
AIR FORCE 78, SAN JOSé STATE 71
AIR FORCE (7-10, 1-4 MW)
SWAN, Ryan 6-11 5-8 19; VAN, Jacob 3-6 5-6 14; LOUDER, Pervis 2-6 6-8 12;
SCOTTIE, Lavelle 4-11 0-0 11; LYONS, Trevor 3-9 2-4 9; TOOHEY, Frank 3-6 0-0
7; NORMAN, Dane 1-2 0-0 3; MORRIS, Caleb 1-1 0-0 2; MANNING, Ryan 0-1 1-2 1;
DEWANE, Jonathan 0-0 0-0 0; TOMES, Sid 0-1 0-0 0; SIPLES, CJ 0-0 0-0 0; VAN
SOELEN, Keaton 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 23-56 19-28 78.
SAN JOSé STATE (3-14, 0-6 MW)
Welage, Ryan 5-9 6-6 17; James, Jalen 4-9 3-4 13; Baumann, Noah 4-8 0-0 11;
FISHER, Keith 4-7 2-6 10; Chastain, Ashtin 1-2 5-6 7; Barry, Oumar 3-5 1-5
7; Mitchell, Brandon 2-6 0-0 4; Carlisle, Nai 1-3 0-0 2; Hillsman, Jaycee
0-2 0-0 0; Nichols, Isaiah 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-51 17-27 71.
Air Force..................... 40 38 - 78
San José State................ 34 37 - 71
3-point goals--Air Force 13-33 (SCOTTIE, Lavelle 3-9; VAN, Jacob 3-4;
LOUDER, Pervis 2-3; SWAN, Ryan 2-4; LYONS, Trevor 1-5; TOOHEY, Frank 1-2;
NORMAN, Dane 1-2; TOMES, Sid 0-1; VAN SOELEN, Keaton 0-2; MANNING, Ryan
0-1), San José State 6-14 (Baumann, Noah 3-6; James, Jalen 2-4; Welage, Ryan
1-2; Carlisle, Nai 0-1; Hillsman, Jaycee 0-1). Fouled out--Air Force-None,
San José State-CHASTAIN, Ashtin. Rebounds--Air Force 37 (SWAN, Ryan 9), San
José State 33 (Welage, Ryan 8). Assists--Air Force 16 (LYONS, Trevor 3), San
José State 15 (James, Jalen 4). Total fouls--Air Force 19, San José State
22. Technical fouls--Air Force-None, San José State-None. A-1405
1:22 second half: Flagrant one foul on SJSU #5