PHOENIX – Richard Washington notched his third 30 point game of the season to lead all scorers as San Jose State men's basketball dropped the first game to Colorado State Thursday night inside Ability 360 Sport and Fitness Center.
Washington finished with 35 points on 12-of-26 shooting in 34 minutes of work. The senior from Newport News, Virginia, has three 30-point games on the season, the most by any Spartan since Adrian Oliver in 2011 (six games). It was also the fourth 30-point game of his career, the third-most in program history.
The definition of a walking bucket. @richdub11 has three 30 point games on the season. The most by a Spartan in a single year since 2011 ????#SpartanUp pic.twitter.com/ReIGoSTl2Z
— San Jose State Men's Basketball (@SanJoseStateMBB) January 15, 2021
Unfortunately for SJSU, Colorado State jumped out to a big lead early and was able to distance themselves on the scoreboard despite the big night from Washington. The Rams (9-2, 6-1 MW) shot 54.7 percent (35-of-64) and went on to win 90-57.
Washington accounted for 73 percent of the Spartans' first half points, dealing most of his damage inside the final four minutes of the period. He scored 15 points in the final 3:47 to lead all scorers at the break with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting. On the other side of the floor, Colorado State knocked down 49 percent of their first half shots to take a big lead into the locker room at 46-26. Isaiah Stevens tallied 14 points to lead the Rams offensively.
The shots continued to fall for Washington in the second half as he tacked on 16 more points in the final 20 minutes. He was one shy of his career-best with six triples on 13 attempts, and also finished with five rebounds.
The Spartans as a whole knocked down 22-of-64 FG attempts for the night (34 percent). Trey Smith was the team's second-leading scorer with eight points while Jalen Dalcourt added seven.
Four Rams finished in double-figure scoring led by Kendle Moore's 18 points. Colorado State won the rebounding battle 42-31 and dished out 16 assists to the Spartans' five.
Game two between the Spartans and Rams is Saturday at 4:00 p.m. MT.
SPARTAN ATHLETICS FUND FAN CUTOUTS:
Spartan Nation, don't miss your chance to be represented in the stands in Phoenix this season. If interested in a cardboard cutout, follow this link to register!