FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Sophomore Seneca Knight scored a career-high 37 points but the San Jose State men's basketball team dropped a close game at Colorado State, 78-71, on Saturday afternoon.
Knight had 26 of his points in the first half alone as the Spartans owned a 43-40 halftime lead. But the Rams came roaring back and the Spartans couldn't finish off a late comeback in the loss. In addition to Knight's 37 points on 9-of-19 shooting with five threes and a 14-of-15 effort at the free throw line, Zach Chappell added 12 for the Spartans while Richard Washington had nine. It was Knight's third 30+ point game of the season, all coming on the road.
"I'm really proud of our team today because we competed," said head coach Jean Prioleau. "We played great in the first half and finished strong after a cold stretch earlier in the second half. Colorado State is a good team and we played them tough."
Colorado State led early but a deep three by Seneca Knight gave the Spartans an 8-7 lead with 16:07 in the first half. The Spartans push their lead to 15-10 with another Knight three-point but the Rams battled back. Colorado State used a 9-2 run, capped by an emphatic John Tonje dunk, to take a 25-20 lead with 8:05 in the first half.
That was when Knight took over the game. The Spartans' sophomore scored 19 of the Spartans final 22 points of the first half, including a stretch of 14 straight points. Knight finished the first half with 26 points on 8-of-12 shooting with five three-pointers as the Spartans owned a 43-40 lead at the break.
"Seneca's been our best player this season," Prioleau added. "He's capable of exceptional things."
The game was back-and-forth to the start the second half with no team leading by more than five. Brae Ivey scored on a pretty backdoor layup to tie the game, 59-59, with 9:07 remaining. The Rams responded with an 8-0 run to take a 67-59 lead with 5:57 on the clock.
CSU led by as much as 12 in the second half before the Spartans scored eight straight points, including threes from Zach Chappell and Knight, to cut the deficit to just four, 73-69, with 1:14 remaining. That would be as close as the Spartans would get, however, before falling by seven to the Rams. With Kaison Hammonds sidelined with a leg injury, freshman Omari Moore was back in the starting lineup against the Rams.
The Spartans were 6-of-15 from three-point range in the first half but hit just 3-of-16 from deep in the second half. A nearly perfect 9-of-10 at the free throw line in the second half kept the Spartans in it but it wasn't enough to complete the comeback.
The Spartans head to Utah State for an ESPN2 matchup with the Aggies at 8 PM PT on Tuesday.