When asking Spartan head coach Tim Miles about the significance of senior night he reflected on his own experience. “It’s so emotional, you kind of think like this is it. You go back to your high school and college graduation and it takes you back to those places,” explained the veteran coach.
Miles had nothing but praise regarding his graduating seniors, who will play one more game at the Event Center before moving on from their collegiate careers. “All those guys are special,” Miles noted.
Gorener is in the Spartan history books as the all-time leader in three-pointers made, Anderson is referred to by Coach as “a Spartan by heart” after being a foundational player for three seasons, and Perry is a person and player who’s “always doing the right thing for the team.”
As for Friday night’s contest in the Event Center, the Spartans would host a dangerous Nevada Wolfpack squad, winners of five of their last six. San José State knew they had their hands full as they attempted to seek their first Mountain West Conference victory against a team outside of the Air Force Falcons.
Sparty held serve against their conference foe from Reno early on. They trailed by five at halftime and even had it tied 42-42 with 15 minutes left. Eventually, Nevada’s big man presence proved to wear down the Spartans, as Wolfpack forward Nick Davidson tallied 23 points and 15 rebounds. Five of his fifteen were offensive rebounds, providing second-chance opportunities for him and his teammates.
The wild card of the game, graduate student Hunter McIntosh, accumulated 18 points off the bench for the Navy Blue and Silver, drilling 6 threes which tied his career high in that category. Nevada’s best shot creator, Jarod Lucas, scored 15 of his 20 points in the second half which ultimately helped Nevada blow the game open as they won 84-63.
San José State has been competitive in most of its home conference games against some of the top teams in the Mountain West, but as the game progresses the opposition finds ways to take advantage of their weaknesses whether it be their lack of physicality on the glass, or their sub-par three-point defense.
As for the Spartans offensively, MJ Amey continues to be the consistent all-out scorer for this year’s group. The junior guard has averaged nearly 16 points per game and put together another 18 points in Friday’s loss to the Wolfpack. Most importantly for Amey, he’s been available in every game for San José State compared to last year only being healthy for nine games.
An emerging player on the roster has been Latrell Davis. The freshman from Leeds, England used his speed, acceleration, and explosiveness against Nevada to rack up 17 points off the bench. “It feels good that coach sees what I’m really good at, and that’s getting out in transition,” Davis said.
The Spartans will need MJ Amey’s consistency and Latrell Davis’ scoring after the seniors depart. Before then they and the rest of the Spartans will gear up to take on the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels, on March 2nd.
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