Nevada defeats woeful Spartans at Lawlor
RENO — The San Jose State Spartans brightened an otherwise dreary Nevada Wolf Pack season once again on Saturday.
“We definitely needed this for our confidence,” Wolf Pack guard Tyron Criswell said after a 62-51 victory over the Spartans in front of a Lawlor Events Center crowd of 5,325.
The Wolf Pack, now 9-19 overall and 5-11 in the Mountain West, also needed the struggling Spartans (2-26, 0-16) to boost their sagging confidence. The Wolf Pack has now won 24 of its last 26 games against San Jose State since 2002 and 38 of the last 47 since 1973. “I’m just glad we won a game,” Wolf Pack guard D.J. Fenner said.
The victory snapped a three-game losing streak for the Pack. The Wolf Pack, which has two games remaining in the regular season, has now won just three of its last 14 games with two of the victories coming against San Jose State. The Spartans have now lost 18 games in a row and are now 1-33 over the last two years in Mountain West play with their lone victory coming on Feb. 18, 2014 (66-64) at Lawlor Events Center against the Pack.
“It doesn’t matter who our opponent was,” Pack center A.J. West said. “We needed this win.”
West did his part with 17 points and 10 rebounds. The 6-foot-9 junior tied a school record with 20 free throw attempts (he made 13), joining Hugh Gallagher (1968 against Sacramento State) and Garry Hill-Thomas (2001 against Cal State Northridge).
“Getting to the free throw line is important for A.J.,” Wolf Pack coach David Carter said. “It’s huge for our team. I think it’s what we have to do to score.”
The Wolf Pack won the game at the free throw line, making a season-high 34-of-47. San Jose State was just 10-of-15 from the line.
“We definitely won the game at the line,” Carter said. “That’s what won the game for us.”
West was just 5-of-15 from the free throw line in a 75-70 loss at Air Force on Wednesday night. The Wolf Pack as a team was just 14-of-32 from the line at Air Force.
“It felt good to get in a rhythm at the line,” West said. “But I still have to shoot a higher percentage.”
San Jose State, which played the game with just eight active players, took a 31-30 lead at halftime thanks to 19 points from Jaleel Williams. Williams was 5-of-9 on 3-pointers in the first half.
“They came out and punched us in the mouth first,” Fenner said.
“In the first half they really controlled the tempo,” Carter said.
The Spartans, which haven’t won a game since they beat St. Katherine on Dec. 9, led by as much as 11 (20-9) midway through the first half. The Pack, though, erased the entire deficit and even took a 27-24 lead after a pair of free throws by Fenner with 3:41 to go in the half.
“We always felt like they were going to cool down,” Criswell said. “We always knew we were going to come back.”
San Jose State recovered briefly to take its one-point lead at the half as Williams had two free throws and a 3-pointer in a span of 19 seconds to take a 29-27 lead. Isaac Thornton also added two free throws as the Spartans led 31-28 with 34 seconds left in the half.
The Spartans’ offense, though evaporated in the second half. Williams scored just two points in the second half and took just two shots and one 3-pointer despite playing 19 of the 20 minutes after the break.
The Pack also did a solid defensive job on the Spartans’ Darryl Gaynor the entire game. Gaynor, who graduated from Durango High in Las Vegas, had 25 points in a 60-57 loss to the Wolf Pack on Feb. 7 in San Jose. On Saturday Gaynor was 1-of-10 from the field and finished with just two points in 23 minutes. Gaynor was 9-of-9 from the free throw line against the Pack in San Jose and Saturday he didn’t shoot a single free throw.
“We wanted to make him drive the ball,” Carter said. “We didn’t want to just allow him to catch and shoot.”
The Pack went on a 9-2 run over the first seven minutes of the second half to take a 39-33 lead. Eric Cooper had two lay-ups and Criswell had one during the run.
Gaynor’s only field goal of the game cut the Pack’s lead to just 40-39 with 11 minutes to play but the Pack quickly answered by going on an 8-1 run. Criswell, who had 15 points and 11 rebounds, had a jumper and two free throws, Fenner had two free throws and West scored inside to key the run.
“We really had more control of the game in the second half,” Carter said.
“We came out swinging in the second half,” said Fenner, who finished with 13 points in 21 minutes off the bench.
The Wolf Pack, though, didn’t put the Spartans away until the final 90 seconds. Brandon Mitchell connected on a 3-pointer for San Jose State to cut the Pack’s lead to just 54-51 with four minutes to play.
The Pack also led just 56-51 after two more free throws by West with three minutes to go.
It was a Fenner dunk, off his own steal, that finally gave the Pack control of the game and a 58-51 lead with 1:30 to go.
“I had some family in the stands and they really wanted to see me dunk,” said Fenner with a smile. “I really wanted that one.”
Mitchell’s 3-pointer with four minutes to go turned out to be the final Spartan points of the game. Criswell had a lay-up with 57 seconds left and Marqueze Coleman had two free throws with five seconds left to give the Pack its biggest victory (11 points) since it beat Air Force 80-62 on Jan. 3.
The Pack beat the Spartans despite missing all eight of its 3-point shots and making just 14-of-42 shots (33 percent) overall.
“We didn’t give up,” Fenner said. “We were down 11 and could have given up but we didn’t.”
“We stayed together as a team,” Criswell said.
