SAN JOSE, Calif. - San Jose State men's basketball, presented by Provident Credit Union, erased a 13-point second half deficit, but ultimately was unable to complete the comeback against UNLV as their tying 3-point attempt in the closing seconds missed its mark. The Spartans fell by a final of 67-64 in what was potentially the final game played inside the Provident Credit Union Event Center this season.
Trailing by four with just 1:16 to play, guard Sebastian Mendoza made a crucial steal, drew a foul and knocked down both free throw attempts to make it a one-point game at 64-62. UNLV's Bryce Hamilton answered with a layup with under a minute to play, but Omari Moore fired right back with a layup of his own on the other end. The Spartans then needed to get one final stop to give themselves another chance. After draining precious time off the clock, UNLV's David Jenkins, Jr. put up a 3-point attempt that missed its mark, but the Rebels grabbed the offensive rebound, their 29th of the game, and quickly drew a foul. Jenkins, Jr. missed the front end of his one-and-one, but sank the second for a three-point advantage with 11 seconds remaining. Richard Washington took the ball for SJSU's final possession and fired off an uncontested 3-point attempt from the corner, but the shot missed its mark and the Rebels grabbed the rebound to preserve the victory.
UNLV improved to 10-11, 7-7 MW while the Spartans dropped to 5-15, 3-13 MW. Mendoza was one of three Spartans in double figures with a team-high 14 points. Washington chipped in 10 points and Omari Moore scored 13 points to go with a balanced line of five rebounds and five assists. Freshman Michael Ofoegbu, making his first start since the season opener in place of Ralph Agee, played his best game of the year with nine points and three rebounds in 26 minutes.
Down one at 28-27 at the start of the second half, Washington quickly tied the game on a jumper at 29-29. UNLV then grabbed control with a 12-2 run to lead by 10 at 42-32 with 15:21 to go, but SJSU punched right back with five unanswered to get back in it. The Rebels went on another big run to take their biggest lead of the game of 13 at 54-41 with just over 10 minutes to play. San Jose State was ready to answer that run as well as they rattled off 13 straight to erase the deficit and tie the game at 54 with 7:44 to play. The teams then exchanged buckets for the remainder of the contest leading into the final sequence.
The Spartans played strong defense as they held the Rebels to a 36 percent clip from the floor (27-76) and gave up just seven 3s (7-27). Offensively, they converted on 24-of-56 attempts from the floor (43 percent) and knocked down nine triples. Neither team bode well at the free throw line with SJSU shooting 54 percent and UNLV converting just 43 percent from the charity stripe. A key area to the Rebels' victory was in the rebounding department as they came away with a 59-29 advantage on the boards, including a 29-5 advantage in offensive rebounds that led to 20 second chance points.
Hamilton led all scorers with 17 points while Cheikh Mbacke Diong came away with a balanced double-double of 13 points and 13 rebounds to lead UNLV.
San Jose State returns to action on Thursday with their first of two games against Wyoming in Laramie.
