There are nights when a season bends, if only slightly, toward belief regardless if the other team has had its own struggles.<\/p>\n
Tuesday night in Colorado Springs against Air Force was one of those bends.<\/p>\n
San Jose State (8-20, 3-14 MW) walked into Clune Arena and walked out with its first road victory of the year; an 86-80 decision built on shot-making, resilience and the exploits of red shirt sophomore Adrian Myers .<\/p>\n
Myers was doing it all from the opening tip. <\/p>\n
Eighteen first-half points set the tone, and his career-high 34, the most by a Spartan this season, came on a blistering 11-of-18 shooting, including 8-of-9 from three-point range.<\/p>\n
At altitude, against a Falcon team that has struggled to shoot much of the year but found a first-half rhythm, Myers\u2019 poise never wavered.<\/p>\n
Air Force\u2019s Lucas Hobin was unconscious early, 5-of-8 from beyond the arc in the first-half alone, some from near half-court range, helping the Falcons surge ahead 11-2 in the opening minutes.<\/p>\n
Yet, the Spartans never fractured. <\/p>\n
Jermaine Washington, back after missing five games, steadied the perimeter, while Sadraque Nganga, increasingly playing more than a stretch four, carved space inside and finished with 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting.<\/p>\n
The first-half unfolded as a relatively even, back-and-forth affair, five ties and six lead changes over 40 minutes.<\/p>\n
San Jose State closed the half on a Myers three to seize a 42-37 lead; a subtle but significant shift in a game that would demand nerve.<\/p>\n
Air Force would not yield.<\/p>\n
The Falcons outscored SJSU 10-4 to begin the second half, briefly reclaiming momentum.<\/p>\n
But Colby Garland then \u201cwoke up,\u201d finishing with 23 points and a perfect 10-for-10 from the free-throw line. His calm at the stripe, especially in the final seconds, proved decisive.<\/p>\n
With eight minutes left, the Spartans authored the stretch that defined the night; hitting six of seven shots to push the lead to double digits.<\/p>\n
Myers\u2019 sixth, seventh and then eighth three-pointers punctuated the surge, stretching the margin to as many as 12 .<\/p>\n
And yet, even statistically, the Spartans were outmatched in key areas. <\/p>\n
Air Force outscored SJSU 42-26 in the paint and shot a slightly better overall percentage (50.9% to 49.1%). The Falcons also won the rebounding battle 32-31.<\/p>\n
But the difference was precision: San Jose State shot 54.2% from three and 89.5% from the line; efficiency over volume, execution over margin.<\/p>\n
There was late-game anxiety. <\/p>\n
A sudden scoring drought left the Spartans clinging to a four-point lead inside the final minute. But a Falcon turnover and two Garland free throws finally sealed it.<\/p>\n
For 27 minutes and 37 seconds, the Spartans led.<\/p>\n
On this night, at 7,000 feet, they also endured and for a team that has worn its struggles visibly all season, that may matter most.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are nights when a season bends, if only slightly, toward belief regardless if the other team has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":192854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[88,90,89,52380],"class_list":["post-192853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-state-basketball"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192853","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=192853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}