Jan. 6, 2018
Albuquerque, N.M. --- The San José State men's basketball team fell behind early on the road at New Mexico and could never climb back, resulting in an 80-47 loss inside Dreamstyle Arena-The Pit.
An 11-0 Lobos (7-10, 2-2 MW) run fueled by three consecutive hits from beyond the arc took New Mexico's lead from 9-6 to 18-6 in the span of 1:30. The Spartans (3-12, 0-4 MW) recovered nicely to make it a five-point game, 18-13, using a 7-0 run of their own.
But New Mexico closed the first half on another run, a 16-4 burst which put SJSU down 39-23 at the break. The Spartans shot 30.4 percent (7-23) in the opening period, making only the first halves against Southern Utah (28.0 percent) and Idaho State (24.2 percent) worse in the shooting department this season. They finished the game with a season-low 31.8 (14-44) shooting percentage.
Poor shooting from the opponent is a rare site for the Lobos as they allow the highest field goal percentage of 46.8 in the Mountain West. But even the Spartans' leading scorer Ryan Welage struggled to find the bottom of the net, making just 6-of-19 from the field.
Welage led the Spartans for the 12th time this season and fifth game in a row with 17 points. He was the only double-figure scorer for SJSU.
It was all Lobos in the second half, outscoring the Spartans 41-24 in the period. New Mexico's hot three-point shooting coupled with Spartan turnovers allowed the Lobos to steadily grow their lead.
New Mexico came into the game having shot 500 3-pointers on the season, making 11 per game on average which ranks 13th in the nation. UNM finished 13-36 from deep on Saturday against the Spartans making it a season-high in both attempts and makes from downtown by a Spartan opponent. Five Lobos made multiple shots from beyond the arc, including Makuach Maluach who made both of his threes and finished with a team-high 15 points.
Chris McNeal and Anthony Mathis each scored 12 points, Antino Jackson added 11 points and Joe Furstinger finished with 10 points. It's the first time this season that an opponent has had five players in double-figure scoring.
San José State turned the ball over 20 times leading to 28 points for New Mexico. Twelve of the giveaways came in the second half and at one point SJSU turned it over four times in a span of 1:50. The turnovers hurt any chance of a Spartan comeback, but they were not the reason for being down big in the first place. Nine of the 12 turnovers in the second half came when the Spartans were already trailing by 25 or more.
The Spartans have a quick turnaround as they face San Diego State on the road on Tuesday, January 9. Tipoff on CBS Sports Network is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. (PT).
Newspaper Box Score
San José State vs New Mexico
1/6/18 7 p.m. at Dreamstyle Arena - The Pit
At Dreamstyle Arena - The Pit
NEW MEXICO 80, SAN JOSé STATE 47
SAN JOSé STATE (3-12, 0-4 MW)
Welage, Ryan 6-19 3-3 17; Hillsman, Jaycee 0-2 9-11 9; Chastain, Ashtin 2-6
1-4 5; FISHER, Keith 2-3 0-0 4; Carlisle, Nai 2-3 0-0 4; Baumann, Noah 1-3
0-0 3; Nichols, Isaiah 1-5 0-0 2; Simmons, Caleb 0-0 2-4 2; Barry, Oumar 0-0
1-2 1; Mitchell, Brandon 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 14-44 16-24 47.
NEW MEXICO (7-10, 2-2 MW)
MALUACH, Makuach 6-9 1-2 15; MATHIS, Anthony 4-10 2-2 12; McNEAL, Chris 4-11
2-4 12; JACKSON, Antino 4-6 0-0 11; FURSTINGER, Joe 3-5 3-4 10; SIMMONS,
Jachai 3-5 0-0 8; PINCHUK, Vladimir 2-4 2-5 6; KUIPER, Dane 1-9 1-2 4;
MONDRAGON, Mike 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 28-60 11-19 80.
San José State................ 23 24 - 47
New Mexico.................... 39 41 - 80
3-point goals--San José State 3-11 (Welage, Ryan 2-4; Baumann, Noah 1-2;
Nichols, Isaiah 0-3; Mitchell, Brandon 0-1; Hillsman, Jaycee 0-1), New
Mexico 13-36 (JACKSON, Antino 3-5; McNEAL, Chris 2-8; MATHIS, Anthony 2-8;
SIMMONS, Jachai 2-3; MALUACH, Makuach 2-2; FURSTINGER, Joe 1-2; KUIPER, Dane
1-8). Fouled out--San José State-None, New Mexico-None. Rebounds--San José
State 34 (Chastain, Ashtin 7; Welage, Ryan 7), New Mexico 34 (FURSTINGER,
Joe 9). Assists--San José State 7 (Nichols, Isaiah 3), New Mexico 23
(JACKSON, Antino 7). Total fouls--San José State 19, New Mexico 21.
Technical fouls--San José State-None, New Mexico-None. A-10799