LAS VEGAS — San Jose State hit the Mountain West men’s basketball tournament running on Wednesday.
The No. 8 seeded Spartans scored the first 12 points of the game and never trailed in a 66-61 win over No. 9 Wyoming at the Thomas & Mack Center. The Spartans had been 1-10 all-time in Mountain West tournament games since joining the conference 11 seasons ago, the lone victory an 81-77 overtime win over Nevada in the 2023 quarterfinals.
With the win over the Cowboys, SJSU (15-18) advances to the quarterfinals on Thursday against No. 1 seeded New Mexico.
San Jose State defeated Wyoming (12-20) for the third straight time and led by as many as 22 points late in the first half. But the Cowboys managed to put a small scare into the Spartans by going on a 22-9 run to open the second half.
SJSU’s advantage was cut to 64-61 with 23 second remaining, but Josh Uduje made a pair of free throws to seal the victory.
Donavan Yap led the Spartans with 19 points, going 4-for-8 from 3-point range. His four three-pointers made is the most for a Spartan player in a MW Tournament game since Ryan Welage made five in 2018 against Wyoming.
Sadaidriene Hall scored 15 of his 16 points in the first half, going 6-for-9 from the field. Uduje added 15 points with eight rebounds.
Jordan Nesbitt led the Cowboys with 19 points.
The win was the Spartans’ 45th since the start of the 2022-23 season, the most wins in a three-year span since the team won 46 games from 1985-88 while in the Big West Conference.
San Jose State advances to the MW quarterfinals for the second time in school history. They lost 83-77 at New Mexico in their conference opener but beat the Lobos 71-70 at the Event Center in mid-January when Latrell Davis hit the game-winning shot with two seconds left in regulation. It was just one of three conference losses this season for the Lobos, who are 25-6 overall.
