LAS VEGAS – San Jose State men's basketball freshman guard Omari Moore scored a career-high 17 points in the Spartans' opening game of the 2020 Mountain West Tournament, however it wasn't enough as SJSU was unable to hold off a potent New Mexico offense. The Lobos won by a final of 79-66 as SJSU was eliminated from the tournament to conclude the season.
The Spartans finished the 2019-20 campaign 7-24 and 3-15 in Mountain West play.
"I think this year's team had a lot more fight in it than last year's team," said head coach Jean Prioleau. "I know for many people, many people that might not be in the inner circle, they may not see a fast shift in the progression of San Jose State, but I think it's moving in the right direction. And we're doing it the right way, more importantly. So sky's the limit for us, I think."
Richard Washington opened the contest with back-to-back corner treys followed by a great steal and lay-in by Moore to take a quick 8-4 lead. The offense couldn't sustain the hot start however as they went cold for nine minutes and New Mexico took advantage, rattling off a 23-0 run to take a 25-8 lead. Trey Smith finally put an end to the drought with a pair of 3-pointers with 9:09 remaining in the half.
Despite the large deficit, the Spartans continued to fight, chipping into the Lobo lead. The outscored the Lobos 21-19 over the final 9:09 and got the deficit to as little as 10 points on a Brae Ivey triple with just over two minutes to go. New Mexico then closed the half with a mini 8-2 run to take a 45-29 lead into the locker room.
The Spartans finished the half with a 36 percent shooting clip against 50 percent for the Lobos. SJSU turned to the three-ball for more than half of their first half points (15-of-29).
Coming out of the break, the Spartans took advantage of an 0-for-5 start for the Lobos to put up the first seven points of the second half, cutting the deficit to nine. Similar to the first half, the New Mexico offense couldn't be held down long as the shots began to fall in their favor again. Vance Jackson scored the first 14 Lobo points in the half to extend the lead up to 17.
The Lobos' lead didn't drop below double figures for the rest of the contest. They finished with a 48 percent scoring clip (29-of-61) while SJSU shot the ball at a 40 percent clip (27-of-67).
All-Mountain West sophomore Seneca Knight led the Spartans in scoring for the final time in 2020. The Louisiana native finished with 22 points on 8-of-18 shooting. Omari Moore's 17 points was due to an 8-for-10 performance from the field. Moore had a school-record eight steals in the game, also a Mountain West Tournament record. The Pasadena product also pulled down four boards and dished out a team-high three assists. Brae Ivey pulled down seven rebounds to lead the way on the boards.
The Spartans' aggressive defense paid off as they forced 21 turnovers resulting in 24 points.
Jackson's 26 points led the way for the Lobos as one of three players in double figures. New Mexico out-rebounded the Spartans 42-33 and dished out 17 assists to SJSU's 13.
