Jan. 27, 2018
San Jose, Calif. --- San José State's Jalen James sliced through Wyoming's full-court press and made a twisting layup with 0.5 seconds left in regulation to force overtime. It was all tied up, 84-84, with 2:12 to go in the extra period but Wyoming's Justin James scored six straight points to lift the Cowboys to a 90-86 Mountain West victory.
Ryan Welage was sensational for the Spartans (3-17, 0-9 MW) who trailed by as many as 16 points in the second half and were down eight as late as 4:56 to go in regulation. Welage scored 25 of his career-high 37 points in the second period as SJSU fought back into the game.
San José State opened the second half on an 11-2 run which cut Wyoming's lead from 16 to seven with 14:40 left to play. The Cowboys lead hovered around eight points until Welage scored seven straight points for SJSU beginning with an and-1 at the 10:07 mark.
Another basket plus the foul for Welage got the crowd on their feet with 4:40 to go. Keith Fisher III then nailed a baseline jumper and made a layup on consecutive Spartan possessions to cut the Cowboys' lead to 73-72.
Welage buried a 3-pointer with 1:44 left in regulation to tie the game, 75-75. After turnovers by both teams on their next possessions, James dribbled the ball all alone near midcourt for the Spartans as the clock ticked down. With around eight seconds left Wyoming's Justin James picked Jalen's pocket and took it back for a dunk that gave the Cowboys a 77-75 lead with 5.1 seconds left.
Head Coach Jean Prioleau called the senior's number in the ensuing 30 second timeout, and James executed with speed and touch to tie the game and force overtime.
Jaycee Hillsman hit SJSU's first shot of overtime, but Louis Adams was right there to answer for Wyoming. Ashtin Chastain made a layup to tie the game for the seventh time, 82-82, with 2:33 to play. The two teams traded a pair of free throws and then with 2:04 left in overtime James took over for Wyoming by hitting a contested jumper, making a layup and sinking two free throws to put the game on ice.
James led the Cowboys with 33 points on 11-of-20 shooting and hit 9-of-12 from the free throw line. Adams scored 13 points and Alexander Aka Gorski finished with 11 points to round out Wyoming's double-figure scorers.
Welage got his game-high 37 points on 12-of-20 shooting and sank 11-of-12 from the line. The effort moves him into 12th among the all-time SJSU ranks with 1,085 points in his career. He hit two threes in the game which gives him sole possession of third all-time with 136 3-pointers.
Chastain also finished with a new career-high 13 points. Fisher scored 15 points and has now reached double-figure scoring in four of the last five games.
San José State shot 48.4 percent (30-62) while Wyoming was 44.1 percent shooting (30-68). The Spartans outrebounded the Cowboys 43-33. Wyoming scored 21 points off of San José State's 21 turnovers.
San José State continues Mountain West play on Wednesday, January 31, at UNLV. Tipoff on AT&T SportsNet is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. (PT).
Newspaper Box Score
Wyoming vs San José State
01/27/18 2:00 PM at San Jose, Calif. (The Event Center)
At San Jose, Calif. (The Event Center)
WYOMING 90, SAN JOSé STATE 86
WYOMING (14-7, 5-3 MW)
JAMES, Justin 11-20 9-12 33; ADAMS, Louis 4-10 4-5 13; AKA GORSKI,Alexander
4-7 1-1 11; MALDONADO, Hunter 3-6 0-0 8; HERNDON, Alan 2-5 2-2 6; REDDING,
Nyaires 1-2 2-2 5; MOEMEKA, Andrew 2-3 1-3 5; KELLEY, Cody 1-3 2-2 4;
MUELLER, Austin 1-1 0-0 3; DALTON, Hayden 1-9 0-0 2; JONES, Brodricks 0-2
0-0 0. Totals 30-68 21-27 90.
SAN JOSé STATE (3-17, 0-9 MW)
Welage, Ryan 12-20 11-12 37; FISHER, Keith 6-14 3-4 15; Chastain, Ashtin 6-9
1-3 13; James, Jalen 3-9 2-2 9; Hillsman, Jaycee 2-7 4-5 8; Simmons, Caleb
1-1 0-0 3; Nichols, Isaiah 0-0 1-2 1; Baumann, Noah 0-1 0-0 0; Barry, Oumar
0-1 0-0 0. Totals 30-62 22-28 86.
Wyoming....................... 47 30 13 - 90
San José State................ 33 44 9 - 86
3-point goals--Wyoming 9-32 (AKA GORSKI,Alexander 2-5; MALDONADO, Hunter
2-3; JAMES, Justin 2-6; MUELLER, Austin 1-1; REDDING, Nyaires 1-2; ADAMS,
Louis 1-4; JONES, Brodricks 0-2; DALTON, Hayden 0-4; KELLEY, Cody 0-2;
HERNDON, Alan 0-3), San José State 4-15 (Welage, Ryan 2-5; James, Jalen 1-4;
Simmons, Caleb 1-1; Hillsman, Jaycee 0-3; Baumann, Noah 0-1; CHASTAIN,
Ashtin 0-1). Fouled out--Wyoming-DALTON, Hayden, San José State-NICHOLS,
Isaiah; Hillsman, Jaycee. Rebounds--Wyoming 33 (JAMES, Justin 8), San José
State 43 (James, Jalen 9). Assists--Wyoming 17 (JAMES, Justin 5), San José
State 20 (James, Jalen 8). Total fouls--Wyoming 26, San José State 24.
Technical fouls--Wyoming-None, San José State-None. A-1742