ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – It just wasn't San Jose State men's basketball's night as the Spartans struggled to find much success against New Mexico in a 86-59 loss to the Lobos on Tuesday night inside "The Pit" at Dreamstyle Arena.
SJSU dropped to 6-14 and 2-6 in league play with the loss while New Mexico improves to 13-0 at home on the season and are 16-5, 5-3 overall.
The story of the game was simple: one team was able to hit shots and the other wasn't. New Mexico was the hot team with a 57 percent scoring clip for the night while the Spartans converted just 28 percent of theirs. The second half was especially telling as the Lobos outscored SJSU 45-30 in the half and outshot the Spartans 63 percent to 22 percent.
The Spartans opened the game with an uncharacteristically sloppy first half as they were stifled on the offensive end with a 32 percent shooting clip and committed 10 turnovers that resulted in 11 Lobo points. SJSU scored nine of their 29 first half points at the charity strip. New Mexico took advantage of the sloppy play and hit 51 percent of their shots to take a 41-29 lead into the locker room. The Lobos did the bulk of their damage down low with 24 points in the paint.
New Mexico jumped out to an 8-1 lead before Kaison Hammonds came off the bench to score five straight for the Spartans' first field goals of the night with 15:22 on the clock. The Lobos then quickly took an 11 point lead and led by as much as 12 before the Spartans chipped the lead back down to four on a Seneca Knight 3-ball with just over five minutes remaining in the half.
The Lobos went on a 10-2 run from there to take a 37-25 lead into the final minute of the half. Their last-second attempt from 3-point range in the waning seconds fell short, but Vante Hendrix scored on a putback at the buzzer to send them to the locker room with a comfortable lead.
The second half fared no better as the shooting woes carried over from the break despite cleaning up the turnovers, with just four in the half. New Mexico heated up quickly and used a commanding 27-7 run to put the game out of reach with over 11 minutes to play with a 69-39 lead. SJSU was unable to hit enough shots down the stretch to cut into that deficit as the Spartans suffered their third-straight loss.
Knight's 11 points and seven rebounds led the Spartans in both categories while Kaison Hammonds scored seven points as the first man off the bench. Brae Ivey added nine points. The Spartans did shoot the ball well at the charity stripe at 87 percent.
For New Mexico, the duo of Corey Manigault (20) and Zane Martin (21) combined for 41 points while Makuach Maluach finished with a double-double of 15 points and 13 rebounds. The Lobos won the rebounding battle by one (37-36), but SJSU won on the offensive boards at 16-5.
The Spartans return to action on Saturday as they return to the Provident Credit Union Event Center to host Air Force for a 2:00 p.m. PT tip.