Feb. 24, 2018
San Jose, Calif. --- Keith Fisher III scored a game-high 21 points but San José State lost to San Diego State, 71-59, in Mountain West play inside The Event Center.
Fisher scored 15 of his 21 points in the second half while the Spartans (3-24, 0-16 MW) battled to keep pace with the Aztecs (17-10, 9-7 MW).
San Diego State led by 10 points, 37-27, at the 17:02 mark when Matt Mitchell hit a jumper. That lead would get trimmed to 45-52 after SJSU got a pair of 3-pointers from Isaiah Nichols, another three from Jaycee Hillsman and two free throws by Fisher.
In less than two minutes though, SDSU had the lead back to eight points. Max Montana fueled the surge with one of his five 3-pointers. Another one of Montana's threes dropped with 3:51 to go put the Aztecs up 65-52. Then he put the dagger in SJSU with another one to give the Aztecs their largest lead of 17 points with 1:34 left.
With the exception of Montana, players on both teams struggled to hit shots. San José State finished the game shooting 38.8 percent (19-49) while San Diego State shot 39.3 percent (22-56).
The teams traded runs and cold streaks throughout the first half and while the Spartans led just once, they hacked multiple deficits of at least eight points down to one. SJSU trailed by nine points with 6:40 remaining in the period, but a 12-2 run gave SJSU the 24-23 lead with 2:56 to play until halftime. Noah Baumann and Nichols both hit threes to spark the SJSU run.
After a Jalen James last-second layup, the Spartans trailed 30-27 at halftime.
Hillsman was SJSU's second double-figure scorer with 10 points. He also brought down seven rebounds and had five assists. San José State's leading scorer on the year Ryan Welage was limited to 3-of-10 shooting and nine points. Nichols contributed nine points in 25 minutes of work off the bench. All of his points came from beyond the arc.
Jalen McDaniels led San Diego State with 16 points and 10 rebounds for his third consecutive double-double. Montana finished with 15 points, Matt Mitchell scored 12 points and Devin Watson had 10 points for the Aztecs.
San José State's next game is Wednesday, February 28, against Utah State inside The Event Center. Tipoff for the last regular season home game and Senior Night is set for 7:00 p.m. (PT).
Newspaper Box Score
SAN DIEGO STATE vs San José State
02/24/18 7:00 PM at San Jose, Calif. (The Event Center)
At San Jose, Calif. (The Event Center)
SAN DIEGO STATE 71, SAN JOSé STATE 59
SAN DIEGO STATE (17-10, 9-7 MW)
MCDANIELS, Jalen 3-7 10-10 16; MONTANA, Max 5-8 0-0 15; MITCHELL, Matt 5-11
0-0 12; WATSON, Devin 3-12 1-2 10; NARAIN, Nolan 3-4 1-2 8; KELL, Trey 2-8
2-3 6; HEMSLEY, Jeremy 1-4 1-2 4; ROOKS, Kameron 0-0 0-2 0; SCHAKEL, Jordan
0-2 0-0 0. Totals 22-56 15-21 71.
SAN JOSé STATE (3-24, 0-16 MW)
FISHER, Keith 6-12 9-10 21; Hillsman, Jaycee 3-7 2-4 10; Welage, Ryan 3-10
3-4 9; Nichols, Isaiah 3-5 0-0 9; James, Jalen 2-8 0-0 4; Baumann, Noah 1-2
0-0 3; Chastain, Ashtin 1-4 1-3 3; Barry, Oumar 0-0 0-0 0; Simmons, Caleb
0-1 0-0 0; Carlisle, Nai 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-49 15-21 59.
SAN DIEGO STATE............... 30 41 - 71
San José State................ 27 32 - 59
3-point goals--SAN DIEGO STATE 12-34 (MONTANA, Max 5-8; WATSON, Devin 3-8;
MITCHELL, Matt 2-6; HEMSLEY, Jeremy 1-4; NARAIN, Nolan 1-1; SCHAKEL, Jordan
0-2; KELL, Trey 0-5), San José State 6-16 (Nichols, Isaiah 3-5; HILLSMAN,
Jaycee 2-4; Baumann, Noah 1-2; Simmons, Caleb 0-1; James, Jalen 0-2; WELAGE,
Ryan 0-2). Fouled out--SAN DIEGO STATE-MONTANA, Max, San José State-None.
Rebounds--SAN DIEGO STATE 33 (MCDANIELS, Jalen 10), San José State 35
(Welage, Ryan 8). Assists--SAN DIEGO STATE 17 (KELL, Trey 9), San José State
13 (Hillsman, Jaycee 5). Total fouls--SAN DIEGO STATE 20, San José State 24.
Technical fouls--SAN DIEGO STATE-None, San José State-None. A-2642