Mustangs crush Spartans (Photo by John Schreiber, The Daily Campus)
If the men’s basketball team (10-10, 5-7 WAC) was to stay true to its recent trend of succeeding a satisfying win with a pair of tough losses — a trend that began with a 74-63 home victory against the Fresno State Bulldogs on Jan. 6 — they were due to start the cycle anew last night against the San Jose State Spartans (6-14, 3-8 WAC).
Following two losses last weekend at Nevada and Fresno State, SMU was hoping to get back on the winning track against San Jose; to the delight of a Moody Coliseum crowd which included University President R. Gerald Turner, the team did stay true to the trend, storming its way to a 66-46 victory.
Junior guard Bryan Hopkins opened the scoring nearly two minutes into the game when he hit a jump shot to put the Mustangs ahead, 2-0.
Following a three-pointer by the Spartans’ Donta Watson, SMU freshman Derrick Roberts completed an acrobatic lay-up to give his team a 4-3 advantage.
On the other end of the court, center Eric Castro did his best to halt San Jose’s 6-foot-11 Matt Misko, who made numerous attempts to penetrate the Mustangs’ inside defense with his intimidating size.
Within the first five minutes of play, Castro grabbed a pair of rebounds on Misko’s missed opportunities. Castro finished with 11 rebounds.
At the 11:34 mark, Hopkins sank a three-pointer to push SMU’s lead back to two.
Senior guard Justin Isham first made his offensive presence felt with just over 10 minutes to go in the half when he hit a lay-up to put the Mustangs up, 11-9.
Isham’s spark helped ignite his teammates, and after the score was tied at 11, consecutive buckets by sophomore Devon Pearson, senior Patrick Simpson, Castro and Roberts pushed SMU to an eight-point lead at the 6:02 mark.
The Mustangs’ first-half lead would reach 10 points on two occasions, the latter coming when Isham nailed four free throws in a row leading up to the buzzer. The Mustangs hit the locker room with a 29-19 halftime lead.
While missed opportunities and poor shooting highlighted the beginning of the game – SMU shot just over 32 percent from the field before the break – the second half welcomed each team back to the floor with an offensive charge.
Hopkins put the Mustangs ahead by 14 when he completed a fast-break lay-up following a steal off the Spartans’ Eric Bloom. Hopkins went on to lead all players with nine steals.
San Jose forward Marquin Chandler trimmed SMU’s lead back to 10 when he turned an offensive rebound into a pair of second-chance points to put the Mustangs’ advantage at 35-25. Though Chandler would do his best to keep his team in the game (he led the Spartans in nearly every offensive category, including 24 points, 18 rebounds and four assists), his lay-up at 16:42 would mark the last time San Jose would be as close as 10 points behind the sharp-shooting Mustangs, who saw their second-half shooting jump to nearly 50 percent.
The Mustangs had four players reach double-digit point totals (Castro 16, Hopkins 14, Isham 11 and Pearson 11), making the most of the Spartans’ second half fumbles. San Jose tallied 18 turnovers and 20 fouls, giving SMU all the momentum it would need to run away with the score at the clock ticked down.
Hopkins snagged his final steal of the evening in the final minute of play, and Isham put a smooth finishing touch on a stellar game when he hit a jumper with 23 seconds on the clock, pushing the Mustangs’ margin of victory to 20.
SMU look to avenge last month’s 71-59 loss in Manoa when they host the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (13-6, 5-6 WAC) tomorrow evening. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. in Moody Coliseum.
