SAN JOSE, Calif. – San Jose State men's basketball gave Boise State all they wanted, but the Broncos eventually pulled away in the second half to a 80-62 victory Wednesday night at the Provident Credit Union Event Center.
Sophomore guard Seneca Knight led all scorers with 23 points, his ninth game with 20 points on the season. Richard Washington scored 16 of his own while Christian Anigwe nearly pulled off a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds.
The game started off evenly with the Broncos holding just a two-point lead with 9:03 remaining in the first, but Boise State scored seven unanswered to take a nine point advantage at 27-18. The Spartans cut that deficit back to two after a 9-2 run of their own. Anigwe hit five unanswered points of his own to bring the score to 29-27 with just over four minutes to go. Boise State scored the last five points of the half to take a 36-31 lead into the break.
Out of the break, the teams played back-and-forth ball with Knight's trey with 16:03 on the clock getting the Spartans within four, but that was as close as things would get. The Broncos took a double-digit lead with 9:48 to go and didn't relent as they cruised to an 18-point victory.
With the loss, SJSU drops to 7-20 and 3-12 in Mountain West play. Boise State improves to 18-10 and 10-6.
The Broncos did the bulk of their scoring in the paint with 42 of their 80 points coming down low. They shot the ball at a 57 percent clip (31-of-54) and knocked down seven treys. SJSU was held to a 36 percent scoring clip (21-of-58) and hit eight 3's of their own with Knight and Washington knocked down three apiece.
SJSU forced 21 turnovers, but scored just 14 points off of them while committing 16 turnovers of their own. The Broncos won the rebounding battle 40-26 and dished out 29 assists to the Spartans' 13.
SJSU returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 22 at Colorado State. Tip is slated for 1:00 p.m. PT.