SAN JOSE, Calif. – Sophomore Seneca Knight tallied 20 points to go with eight rebounds and five assists but the San Jose State men's basketball team couldn't contain a hot-shooting UNLV squad in a 92-69 loss on Saturday at the Provident Credit Union Event Center.
Knight and the Spartans will head to the 2020 Mountain West Tournament next week. With a couple games still to be played on Saturday, the Spartans are likely to be the No. 10 seed, setting up a 2:30 PM tip on Wednesday against New Mexico in the opening round. The game will be streamed on the Mountain West Digital Network.
Sophomore Trey Smith tallied a career-high 11 points against UNLV, including a trio of three-pointers. Zach Chappell added nine points while Richard Washington chipped in eight plus five rebounds.
UNLV had four players score 17-or-more points as the red-hot Runnin' Rebels shot 55.7 percent from the floor and 50 percent from three.
After an early three-point by Washington, the Spartans owned a 7-4 lead with 17:24 in the first half. UNLV responded with a 12-1 run to take a 16-8 lead with 13:10 on the clock. UNLV pushed its lead to 12 before the Spartans were able to cut the deficit down to five with 8:52 remaining in the first half after a pair of Knight free throws. UNLV's lead was cut to just three on a Smith three-pointer at the 3:38 mark of the first half but the Rebels used another run to take a 44-35 lead into halftime.
Smith had all 11 of his points in the first half to lead the Spartans.
The UNLV remained similar until midway through the second half when the Runnin' Rebels pushed their lead to 20 with a 12-4 run and 7:28 left in the game.
Knight had a game-high 13 points in the second half while Chappell had all nine of his points after the break.
It was senior day for the Spartans as both Brae Ivey and Isaiah Nichols were honored postgame.
Senior day feels. #SpartanUp pic.twitter.com/beEItHc5Kh
— San Jose State Men's Basketball (@SanJoseStateMBB) March 1, 2020