For a fleeting stretch inside Provident Credit Union Event Center, San Jose State \u00a0(6-19, 1-13 MW) looked ready to give its home crowd something lasting. The Spartans found rhythm, shared the ball, and briefly seized control against a well-disciplined Grand Canyon squad (16-9, 9-5 MW).<\/p>\n
But as has too often been the case in a season defined by thin margins and thinner depth, momentum proved fragile for the Spartans.<\/p>\n
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Grand Canyon\u2019s 94\u201379 victory ultimately hinged on interior dominance, second-half execution, and the small defensive details Spartans head coach Tim Miles lamented afterward. The Antelopes shot a blistering 62.1 percent from the field and poured in 55 second-half points, turning a three-point halftime edge into comfortable separation.<\/p>\n
Still, the night did not begin as a runaway. San Jose State weathered an early surge, answered with perimeter shooting, and even built a double-digit first-half lead before Grand Canyon closed the half on a decisive 13-0 run.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a mostly strong first-half and did some really good things, especially on the offensive end until the last four or five possessions,\u201d Miles said. \u201cThen, in the second half, we couldn\u2019t get a loose ball, and then we couldn\u2019t get a defensive stop, and then we lost a little bit of willpower, and that\u2019s just too much to overcome.\u201d<\/p>\n
The numbers reinforced Miles\u2019 frustration. Grand Canyon outscored the Spartans 54\u201322 in the paint and won the rebounding battle decisively, translating physicality into efficiency and extra chances.<\/p>\n
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Colby Garland paced the Spartans with 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting, while Pasha Goodarzi added 15 and Adrian Myers contributed 13 in an efficient night from deep and the line.<\/p>\n
Yet the Spartans\u2019 17 total rebounds as a team underscored the uphill climb against Grand Canyon\u2019s size and activity.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just can\u2019t have that kind of defensive effort with loose basketballs and lack of rebounding and everything inside and expect to win,\u201d Miles said.<\/p>\n
Grand Canyon, meanwhile, leaned on balance and efficiency. Jaden Henley\u2019s 24 points and Makaih Williams\u2019 14-point, eight-rebound performance set the tone, while the Antelopes\u2019 collective shooting surge in the second half (75% from the field) sealed the outcome.<\/p>\n
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Miles pointed to belief as much as execution when describing his animated early second-half timeout that followed another Grand Canyon push.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t want guys to fall into, \u2018Okay, we\u2019ve lost this many in a row and we\u2019re not going to win,\u2019\u201d Miles said. \u201cWe have to always strive to win the game and I felt like we looked a little listless to start that second half.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know it\u2019s hard to believe you\u2019re going to win when you haven\u2019t been winning,\u201d Miles added.<\/p>\n
Even when San Jose State responded with improved pace and moments of attack, the matchup puzzle remained unsolved.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a constant chess match with missing pieces,\u201d Miles said. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to give up this, we\u2019ll lose that and vice versa. There was no good outcome when you\u2019re shorthanded.\u201d<\/p>\n
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And so, Valentine\u2019s Day closed not with celebration, but with another lesson in hopeful resilience for a Spartan team still searching deeply for the formula that turns competitive stretches into complete games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For a fleeting stretch inside Provident Credit Union Event Center, San Jose State \u00a0(6-19, 1-13 MW) looked ready…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":179534,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[1184,59433,88,90,89,999,24274,64678],"class_list":{"0":"post-179533","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-grand-canyon-antelopes","10":"tag-san-jose","11":"tag-san-jose-headlines","12":"tag-san-jose-news","13":"tag-sjsu","14":"tag-the-spartans","15":"tag-tim-miles"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}