Courtesy of Braidon Nourse
LAS VEGAS – Get a big lead, score more if you can. A simple, but ultimately a successful mantra deployed by No. 8 San José State coach Tim Miles.
His Spartans’ defense came out firing in the Credit Union 1 Mountain West Men’s Basketball Championship.
Early on, it turned into offense in what would become a 66-61 win over No. 9 Wyoming. The Spartans got out to a quick 12-0 run, which would springboard into a 38-22 lead by halftime. At one point, the lead was up to 22.
The plan seemed pretty simple: make Wyoming’s best player, Obi Agbim, uncomfortable. It’s typically a win defensively if you can limit a player like that as early as possible to disallow a groove, which San José State did well. Even better when the ball moves quickly the other way for points.
“I just thought our guys were really active in the gaps, tough on the ball and anticipating the plays, right?” Miles said. “The ball travels through the midline and our guys got to the middle of the floor and we were able to turn their offense into our offense.”
Spartans guards Sadaidriene Hall and Josh Uduje led the charge with five points apiece during that first-quarter run alone. They finished with 16 and 15, respectively. Uduje tallied eight rebounds and Hall led the team in takeaways with three steals.
All but one of Hall’s points came in the first half. In the second frame, it turned into the Donavan Yap show.
After hitting five 3s in a 30-point performance in the regular-season finale against Fresno State, the guard followed with a game-high 19 points to go with five rebounds. He hit four timely 3s in the game, marking the first time in his five-year career he’s made at least four from beyond in consecutive games.
“Just always staying in the gym,” Yap said. “I like to get shots up before practice, after practice. And my teammates and coach Miles have a lot of confidence in me, so that really helps me when I’m out there.”
The reason the back half of Miles’s slogan sounds a bit unconfident is because of what a team like Wyoming can spark for themselves when down as much as it was.
The Cowboys cut the lead slowly and steadily until hitting a pair of huge buckets with less than 30 seconds left to turn an eight-point deficit into a one-possession game. Trying to break a tough press, Yap threw it away and gave Agbim a chance at tying it from 3. He missed, a consistent theme of Wyoming’s night — it shot just 2-for-19 from beyond.
“I feel like in those types of moments, we’ve just got to stick together,” Hall said. “Every time we build a lead, we somehow start to mess up and give the game back to (opponents). But I feel like today, we stopped it because we want to win, and we know how important it is to make it to March Madness.”
The Spartans will face No. 1 New Mexico in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
–mw–
