LAS VEGAS – San Jose State men's basketball's wild and crazy season came to an end on Wednesday as the Spartans fell 111-80 to Wyoming in the opening round of the 2021 Air Force Reserve Mountain West Men's Basketball Tournament.
SJSU finished the season 5-16 and 3-13 in conference play.
It was a tale of two halves for the Spartans as they shot 55 percent in the first 20 minutes before dipping to just 30.3 percent in the second.
The first half featured a scoring barrage from both teams as they combined for a 40-67 (60 percent) start from the floor. The Spartans hit 55 percent of their attempts including 63.6 percent from 3-point range (7-for-11), and their 45 first half points were tied for their most in the opening half against a Division I opponent all season. However, as good as the Spartans looked offensively, Wyoming looked even better, shooting the ball at a blistering 64.7 percent clip. Graham Ike scored 21 of the Cowboys' 59 points in the period.
On the other side, it was sophomore Omari Moore that stuffed the stat sheet early with 13 points and five assists. Richard Washington (9), Ralph Agee (8) and Jalen Dalcourt (8) also nearly topped double figures for the period.
Wyoming pulled ahead early on, taking a 10-point lead at 21-11 at the 14:21 mark, but San Jose State clawed right back to take a 27-26 lead on a Moore triple with 9:49 on the clock. After some back-and-forth scoring, the Cowboys put together a 9-0 run inside the final five minutes to take control of the contest as they jumped out to a 16-point lead. Despite seven points from Moore inside the final 2:22 of the half, Wyoming was still able to take a 59-45 lead into the locker room.
The second half saw a different story from the first as one team stayed hot and the other didn't. After chipping the deficit to single digits to open the half, the Spartans gave up a 12-2 run that allowed Wyoming to take control for good. The Cowboys went on to lead by as much as 36 inside the final three minutes as they cruised to a blowout victory.
For the Spartans, it was a bitter end for what had been of the most challenging seasons in recent memory. With just three days to prepare for the game after breaking free of quarantine due to contact tracing, the odds were stacked against SJSU from the opening tip. Despite the short time to prepare, the Spartans played well enough in the first half to keep up with the high-octane Cowboy Offense, but in the end the quartet of Ike (32 points), Xavier DuSell (19), Hunter Maldonado (17) and Mountain West Freshman of the Year Marcus Williams (15 points, 10 assists, six rebounds) proved to be too much.
Washington put a cap to his all-conference caliber season by scoring a team-best 18 points to go with six assists and four rebounds. Moore finished with 15 points, six assists and three rebounds and Ralph Agee chipped in 10 points in 16 minutes before a flagrant two foul forced him to take an early exit.
The Spartans finished the game 42.4 percent from the floor and came away with 34 rebounds while Wyoming shot the ball at 60 percent efficiency and edged SJSU in rebounds with 37.
