ST. GEORGE, Utah – San Jose State men's basketball (presented by Provident Credit Union) senior forward Ralph Agee scored a team-best 14 points as the Spartans dropped game one to New Mexico by a final of 67-51 Thursday afternoon at Burns Arena on the campus of Dixie State University.
For Agee, it's the seventh time in the last eight games that the big man from Victorville, Calif. has finished with at least 12 points. He now has eight double-figure scoring efforts on the season. Junior Jalen Dalcourt was the only other Spartan to finish in double figures with 10 points.
As a team, San Jose State (2-11, 0-9 MW) struggled to land shots, finishing with a 40 percent scoring clip at 20-of-50, including a 3-for-20 mark from 3-point range. New Mexico didn't fare much better at 43 percent (27-of-63) and 3-of-17 3-point attempts, but saw a big afternoon from Makuach Maluach, who finished with a game-high 25 points on 10-of-14 shooting.
Both teams struggled to find much offensive success in the first half with New Mexico shooting 36 percent (13-of-36) and the Spartans hitting 35 percent of their attempts (8-of-23). The free throw line was also unforgiving to SJSU as they knocked down just four of their 10 attempts. Freshman Sebastian Mendoza led the way with six points for the Spartans at the break as they went into a locker room down 31-21.
New Mexico (5-8, 1-8 MW) increased their lead to as much as 16 in the front-end of the second half before the Spartans used a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to nine with 8:08 remaining. However, that was as close as things would get as the Lobos quickly regained their footing and led double figures the rest of the way.
The second and final game between the Spartans and Lobos is set for Saturday at noon 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!
