RENO, Nev. – San Jose State men's basketball didn't have enough to keep up with Nevada as they dropped a 95-77 contest on Saturday at the Lawler Events Center.
Sophomore guard Seneca Knight scored a career-high 34 points, his seventh game of the season with at least 20 points and third of the last four games. Richard Washington added 16 points off the bench as the duo combined for 50 of the Spartans' 77 points.
After a sluggish start, scoring just two field goals in the first nine minutes, SJSU began to get the ball rolling on a 3-ball by Kaison Hammond with 11:36 on the clock. Richard Washington knocked down five unanswered to make it a four-point game at 24-20, but that was as close as the Spartans would get in the half. Nevada ended the half on a 17-7 run, including a 9-2 spurt in the final 1:52 to take a decisive 48-31 lead into the break.
SJSU finished the half with a 31 percent scoring clip while Nevada shot the ball at a 43.6 clip. 10 of the Spartans' 31 points came way of the free throw line (10-of-12). The Wolfpack turned to their bench for a bulk of their points with 25, including 13 from Nisre Zouzoua. Nevada also took advantage of SJSU's seven first-half turnovers as they turned them into 14 points.
Bridging the half was a monster run by the Wolfpack that put the game out of hand early. The Wolfpack rattled off a 33-8 run that spanned over nine minutes before Ralph Agee put an end to it with the Spartans' first bucket of the half with 14:27 to play. While the ball did begin the drop more favorably for SJSU for the remainder of the night, the margin was too much to overcome despite hanging right with the Wolfpack in the second half. Nevada scored 46 points to the Spartans' 45.
The good news for the Spartans is that they closed the game with some fight and showed signs of improvement as the game went along. The second half saw a much-improved scoring percentage as they knocked down 50 percent of their attempts (16-of-32).
Knight's 34 points led all scorers while Nevada's Jalen Harris finished just behind with 32 points, his fourth-straight 30-point game.
With the loss SJSU drops to 7-17 and 3-9 while Nevada improves to 15-10, 8-5.
The Spartans return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 12 at home against Fresno State.
