SAN JOSE, Calif. – San Jose State men's basketball handed Grambling State their first loss of the season as the Spartans held off a late comeback to win 83-76 Wednesday evening at the Provident Credit Union Event Center.
The Spartans (3-2) used a balanced effort to take down the Tigers (3-1) with four players scoring in double figures. Louisiana native Seneca Knight scored a career-high 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting and pulled down eight boards in the victory. Christian Anigwe secured his second career double-double 14 points and 10 rebounds, Craig LeCesne chipped in 17 points and Zach Chappell added 10 points off the bench.
SJSU finished the night 26-of-56 from the field (46 percent) and knocked down seven treys. One of the more important numbers was their shooting percentage from the charity strip. The Spartans shot 69 percent from the line (24-of-35) and hit the ones that mattered most in the final minute. Freshman Omari Moore knocked down 3-of-4 in that last minute to close things out. On the other end, Grambling State limped to a 57 percent clip (17-of-30).
The first half was mostly even across the board with the Spartans holding a 35-34 lead at the break. SJSU started sluggish offensively, but found some rhythm to finish the half with a 42 percent shooting clip (13-of-31). Grambling State fared slightly better going 14-of-29 from the field (49 percent). The Tigers looked to take a one-point lead into the break, but Ralph Agee laid in his third bucket of the half with 13 seconds on the clock to give the Spartans the lead.
Coming out of the locker room, the Spartans jumped out to a 10-point lead at 50-40 before turnovers off the full court press defense led to an 11-0 run by Grambling State to take a 51-50 lead at the second media timeout. SJSU committed four turnovers in the run. SJSU wasn't down long however as they used a 10-0 run of their own to regain a nine-point advantage with 9:52 to play.
After leading 11 with 3:59 to play, it seemed as if SJSU had the game in hand, however the Tigers clawed back into it with a 7-0 run in the final minutes before Knight cut the run short with 1:03 on the clock with an open slam. In the waning moments, the Tigers tried one last time to claw their way back into it and even drew a foul in three-point range and made all three free throw attempts with :11 seconds to play to cut the lead to five, but that was as close as they would get.
Four Grambling State players finished with double-figure scoring led by Ivy Smith Jr.'s 19. Devante Jackson, who gave the Spartans all kinds of trouble at the start, scored 15 before fouling out midway through the second half.
The Spartans have one last home game in the home stand before taking on Oregon State at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas on Nov. 27. SJSU will host Portland State this Saturday at the Provident Credit Union Event Center at 7:00 p.m. PT.