Spartans win 84-80 in overtime

Hey, it was good. San Jose State didn't burst out to a large halftime lead -- not succumbing to that temptation.

It did take an overtime period to defeat Cal State Bakersfield 84-80 but the Spartans owned that -- make that Adrian Oliver took possession. In the extra period, he totaled four points to provide a quick 76-72 cushion. Cal State Bakersfield hit one of two free throws and Oliver followed with a 17-footer and eventually a 10-foot deuce. That proved too much for the Roadrunners.

Oliver finished with 30 points (plus 11 boards) while Chris Oakes double-dipped on 18 in both points and rebounds. Mac Peterson contributed 14.

In regulation play at the 7:36 mark of the second half, the score was 56 apiece.

San Jose State then built a 69-60 lead.

Bakersfield followed with a 10-0 run to take a one point lead at 70-69.

With 54 seconds remaining, Oliver nailed a three-pointer to make it 72-70 Spartans.

6-foot-8 pogo stick Donald Johnson then grabbed an offensive rebound and put it in to tie the score with 33 seconds remaining.

It was 72 apiece at the buzzer.

At the half, it was 35-31 in favor of the Spartans. The Roadrunners came out in a zone defensively and used aggressive offensive boardplay to jump out to a 6-0 lead.

It isn't true but it would be easy to believe that the Bakersfield offense is designed to get the ball up on the backboard and go for a close-in shot after grabbing the offensive rebound. With just 4:02 gone off the clock, the RRs had collected eight offensive boards.

Then it became the Chris Oakes Special. His rebounding, scoring and shotblocking propelled the Spartans to the lead which they maintained until 20 minutes of play had concluded.

It's Cal State Bakersfield on Wednesday

So it's the Field of Bakers coming to town Wednesday night, specifically Walt McPherson Court, 7 p.m. The Roadrunners are struggling but is a team with a mix of talent and potential. As expected, Coach Keith Brown has encountered difficulty bringing in 'bigs' but he certainly has some players who can do damage.

Such as, from the 'We've Been Saving This For Quite A While' and 'The For What It's Worth' Departments comes this pre-season item from Rivals:

Rivals Independent Teams Preseason Picks
First team

F Trent Blakley, 6-4, Sr., CS Bakersfield
F Tyler Cain, 6-8, Sr., South Dakota
F Cecil Gresham, 6-5, Sr., Bryant
G Travis Bledsoe, 5-11, Sr., North Dakota
G/F Dana Smith, 6-5, Sr., Longwood

Rivals Independent Teams Preseason Picks
Second team

F Santwon Latunde, 6-6, Sr., CS Bakersfield
F Carl Montgomery, 6-7, Jr., Chicago State
F Mark Yelovich, 6-5, Soph., SIU Edwardsville
G Brian Fisher, 6-2, Sr., Winston-Salem State
G Nick Weiermiller, 6-1, Jr., UT Pan American


On January 12 of this year, Cal State Bakersfield won 61-55. The RR's grabbed 40 boards, including 19 offensively, to SJSU's 33. Forward Santwon Latunde led the way with 12 points (6-11 shooting) and nabbed nine rebounds.


Currently, CSUB is 1-5:

Nov 13 Santa Clara University 81 - 84 (L)

Nov 17 Utah Valley University 58 - 51 (W)

Nov 20 UCLA at Westwood, CA 64 - 75 (L)

Nov 30 Cal State Northridge at Northridge, CA 74 - 81 (L)

Dec 02 UC Riverside at Riverside, CA 47 - 87 (L)

Dec 06 Oregon State at Corvallis, OR 39 - 74 (L)


The Roadrunner Starting Five

Santwon Latunde F 9.2 ppg. 8.8 rpg. (39 free throws attempts in six games)

Trent Blakley F 16.3 ppg. 5.0 rpg. (52 three-point attempts, hitting 30%, just one assist in six games)

Stephon Carter G 10.3 ppg. 4.5 rpg. (leads the team with 17 assists, best freshman recruit so far for Coach Keith Brown)

Donovan Bragg G 10.2 ppg. 3.2 rpg. (the best passer on the squad)

Bryan Emmanuel G (the best backcourt defender, started every game last season as a freshman)

Off The Bench

Donald Johnson G

Jose Lara C

Cory Brown C - has been ill, unsure if he will be available



The Bakersfield Roster (by position)

Donovan Bragg G 6-3 196 Jr
Stephon Carter G 6-3 180 Fr
Bryan Emanuel G 6-2 200 So
Marcus Hall G 6-3 185 Fr
Robert Hayes G 5-10 186 Jr
Alex Johnson G 5-10 170 Jr
Jeff Osborne G 5-10 163 So
Chris Smith G 6-1 175 Jr (a bigtime junior college scorer, redshirted last season, has yet to play this season)

James Albright F 6-6 212 Fr (Fremont High, Oakland)
Trent Blakley F 6-4 220 Sr
George DeLeon F 6-4 200 Jr
Donald Johnson 6-8 215 So
Santwon Latunde F 6-6 262 Sr

Jose Lara C 6-8 280 Sr
Cory Brown C 6-10 223 Jr


What To Expect

* Bakersfield isn't shooting well as a team, just 34% overall and 29% on threes, scoring 61 ppg and allowing 75. Does San Jose State play man or zone or a mixture?

* The Spartans will look to pound it inside both for scoring purposes and to get the Roadrunner 'bigs' in foul trouble.

* Can Adrian Oliver and Justin Graham get their outside shooting going in this contest?

Coverage: KSJS (90.5 FM, San Jose) originates San Jose State University basketball broadcasts. Mike Chisholm will call the play-by-play and air time is 6:30 p.m.

USF wins 76-71

USF is the second oldest institution for higher learning in California. San José State University, of course, is California’s oldest institution of public higher learning. So the pecking order indicates rank goes to SJSU. Unfortunately, the score between the mens basketball teams on Tuesday night didn't indicate this as the Dons, based on a strong second half, won 76-71.

It was a definitive tale of two halves -- the best of times initially but the worst of times in the second one for Sparta.

At the end of the first 20 minutes, San Jose State led 34-23. Adrian Oliver started cold and then picked it up to finish with nine points. Robert Owens contributed eight at the half.

At the 11:47 mark, the Spartans led by one at 9-8. Soon it became 18-8. Later, a Justin Graham trey put San Jose State up by 13.

But the second half proved disconcerting for San Jose State. It was a combination of key turnovers translating into USF layups and dunks plus a definite lack of stops defensively by the Spartans.

USF edged closer as the second half opened and a 15-3 run put the Dons ahead.

The last few minutes had the Dons protecting a varying 6-9 point lead. Mac Peterson got a pair of treys to bring SJSU close -- the Spartans got to within four -- but USF made enough free throws to keep the lead comfortable.

Oliver led on the night with 17 points, Graham tallied 16. Dior Lowhorn led USF with 26 points. San Jose State shot 38.5% for the game to 48% for USF. The Dons were an en fuego 67% in the second half.

Tripping to Foggyville Tuesday night

The atmosphere surrounded USF hoops is much more settled now with the naming of Rex Walters as head coach prior to last season. Such was a necessity as a credible coach and coaching situation needed implementation on the Hilltop so as to not eliminate the lifeblood of college athletics -- recruiting.

Yes, this 7 p.m. road game Tuesday night against the Dons is another matchup against a private school, a la Pacific and St. Mary's, one that has no restrictions on the number of out-of-state or foreign recruits. Coach Walters currently has two citizens of France and one from the Czech republic on his roster.

How has USF done to date? It is a young-ish roster -- 10 underclassmen -- also filled with newcomers and the overall record indicates such.

Schedule To Date

11-13-09 Cal Poly 73-62 W (Dior Lowhorn 22 points, Perris Blackwell/Kwame Vaugh 7 rebounds)

11-20-09 at Arizona State 65-104 L (Kwame Vaughn 17 points, Dior Lowhorn 4 rebounds)

11-23-09 UC Santa Barbara 65-76 L Dior Lowhorn 26 points, Dontae Bryant 7 rebounds)

11/25/09 Montana State 66-70 L (Dior Lowhorn 19 points , Dior Lowhorn 9 rebounds)

11/29/09 at Colorado State 75-91 L (Rashad Green 21, Dior Lowhorn 21 points/Rashad Green 7 rebounds)

12/01/09 at Colorado 54-78 L (Michael Williams 12 rebounds, Parris Blackwell 9 rebounds)

12/05/09 at BYU 43 - 69 L ( Moustapha Diarra 13 points, Perris Blackwell 8 rebounds)


The Don Starting Five

6-foot-7 senior Dior Lowhorn 18.3 ppg. 5.0 rpg. (the best player on the Dons, he has been out with the flu so he may or may not be available)

6-foot-7 freshman Perris Blackwell 8.1 ppg. 4.9 rpg. (a long, rangy freshman)

6-foot-7 sophomore Angelo Caloairo 7.5 ppg. (very solid fundamentally, 12-22 on his trey attempts, 18-9 assist to turnover ratio)

6-foot-3 sophomore Kwame Vaughn 13.3 ppg. (the most creative Don, he can beat opponents off the dribble)

6-foot-2 sophomore Dontae Bryant (not necessarily a creator-type, 22-20 assist to turnover ratio)

Top Reserves

6-foot-4 sophomore Rashad Green

6-foot-0 freshman Michael Williams

5-foot-11 sophomore Peter Smith

6-foot-10 junior Moustapha Diarra

7-foot-0 freshman Tomas Bruha


The USF Roster by position

Kwame Vaughn 6-3/195 G SO (out of Oakland)
Dominique O'Connor 5-10/165 G FR
Michael Williams 6-0/170 G FR
Chioke Walker 6-2/175 G SO (out of Oakland)
Dontae Bryant 6-2/175 G SR
Rashad Green 6-4/195 G SO
Peter Smith 5-11/155 G SO

Blake Wallace 6-6/220 F SR
Perris Blackwell 6-8/240 F FR
Nikola Stojiljkovic 6-8/210 F FR(France)
Angelo Caloiaro 6-7/225 F SO (Archbishop Mitty)
Dior Lowhorn 6-7/230 F SR (out of Berkeley)

Tomas Bruha 7-0/225 C FR(Czech Republic)
Moustapha Diarra 6-10/235 C JR (France)


What To Expect

* Look for San Jose State to try and pound it inside, even more so if Lawhorn is out or plays minimal minutes

* USF is shooting .424% overall on the season while allowing .483% to opponents, also more turnovers and less steals

* Coach Walters' squad is at just 30% from long distance

* But the Dons are out-rebounding opposing teams, 34-31

Coverage: KSJS (90.5 FM) originates San Jose State University basketball broadcasts. Mike Chisholm calls the play-by-play and air time is 6:30 p.m.

San Jose State wins 82-74

The thermometer outside registered 30 degrees. The wind was blowing in from the northwest at 15 miles per hour. The sky a dismal gray overcast. Yep, San Jose State men's basketball was in Orem, Utah on the lookout for Wolverines. Check that, make it successful Wolverine hunting.

The Spartans took the measure of Utah Valley State 82-74 Saturday afternoon.

(to the right is Kyle Thomas in his high school incarnation)

A 14-point SJSU halftime lead was expanded to 19 as the second half wore on but the Wolverines cut the lead to 12 -- 67 to 55 -- with six minutes remaining. Sean Deadwiler added a pair of free throws to cut the Spartan lead to 10. Adrian Oliver lifted it back to 12 points with an 18-footer. UVS scored again but Oliver matched it... and then did it again as his fadeaway jumper was working.

At the 3:47 mark, the Wolverines had a chance to cut the deficit to nine but missed a free throw. Oliver broke his jumper string with a driving layup -- making it four baskets in a row for him. Jordan Swarbrick, a thorn in the thorn to the Spartans from the opening tip, then nailed a three-pointer. Yet another Swarbrick basket cut the Spartan lead to seven, 75-68.

UVS regained possession. 1:25 remained. Justin Baker was fouled with a 1:15 left, made his first free throw and also nailed the second. The Spartans led by just five. Robert Owens was fouled, went to the line for a one-and-one. He made the first and the second. Owens returned to the charity stripe, made the first but missed the second. After a Utah Valley State miss, Owens was fouled yet again. He put down both to give SJSU an 80-70 lead with 35 seconds remaining and the contest was over.

Swarbrick finished the game with 30 points. Chris Oakes earned a double-double for SJSU as five Spartans accomplished double-figure scoring led by Adrian Oliver's 17. Kyle Thomas added 15, Robert Owens 14, Chris Oakes 12 (plus 14 rebounds) and Mac Peterson contributed 10.

San Jose shot 30-50 on the game, including 6-8 from three-point range. UVS went 26-62 overall.

The team traded baskets early on in the game. SJSU was down 23-19 but then went on a tear. Kyle Thomas hit back-to-back baskets, Robert Owens nailed a pair of treys, and the point production was off and running. The Spartans out-scored the Wolverines 23-5 until the buzzer sounded after 20 minutes.

At that half, it was 42-28 San Jose State. Thomas had a season high 13 points -- this after the first 20 minutes. The Spartans shot 60% and out-rebounded UVS 23-12, with Chris Oakes nabbing 10.

On The Road Again...

Besides being home to Utah Valley State, Orem, Utah is adjacent to Provo and about 45 miles south of Salt Lake City. Marie Osmond lives there so it's a high probability a Nutrisystem franchise is close by that the San Jose State players can pick up meals at after they battle the Wolverines of UVS on Saturday afternoon, December 5.

Hey, if it comes recommended by Dan Marino...

Anyway, UVS is 3-3 so far this season. Here the Wolverines schedule:

11/13/09 North Dakota State W 80-72 (Jordan Swarbrick 20 points, nine rebounds)

11/17/09 at CSU Bakersfield L 51-58 (Justin Baker 10 points, Tyray Petty 11 boards)

11/19/09 at Minnesota Golden Gophers L 51-76 (Jordan Swarbrick 11 points, Tyray Petty nine rebounds)

11/25/09 vs Georgia State L 52-59 (South Alabama tourney) (Corey Claitt 13 points, Tyray Petty seven boards)

11/26/09 vs Alcorn State W 68-53 (South Alabama tourney) (Jordan Swarbrick 20 points, Jordain Scoubes 15 rebounds)

11/28/09 Northern New Mexico W 78-55 (Corey Claitt 15 points, Jourdain Scoubes 10 boards)


Let's Do It Again

On February 17 of last year, these two team met with San Jose State winning at home 52-47. Justin Graham put together an all-around game of 13 points, six assists and four steals. Adrian Oliver was injured and out for the game.

The focus of Graham's defensive attention that night, Andy Toolson, is gone. He was a prolific scorer, totaling 63 points in one game last year -- Graham held him to 14 points.

Coach Dick Hunsaker is in his seventh year in Orem, owning a 122-60 record. Coincidentally, he has a basketball playing son -- Holton Hunsaker -- who is finishing his LDS mission this year and should be on the court and playing for Louisiana Tech come the 2010-2011 season.


The Wolverine Starting Five

A number of players have earned starts so this is our best prediction:

6-foot-7 Joudain Scoubes - 7.7 ppg., 7.3 rpg., not an accurate shooter

6-foot-7 Justin Baker 12.3 ppg., 5.0 rpg.

6-foot-6 Jordan Swarbrick 13.5 ppg, 6.3 rpg., also tops in assists with 15 and has taken the most three-point attempts, 30

6-foot-5 Aaron England 8.7 ppg. .487% shooting overall, 9-19 from long distance

6-foot-1 Kevin Woods


Others receiving substantial playing time:

6-foot-3 Tyray Petty 7.0 ppg., 7.3 rpg.

6-foot-1 Corey Clait 12.3 ppg., 5.0 rpg.

6-foot-3 Sean Deadwiler 11 ppg.

6-foot-2 Eric Dearden


The USU Roster by position

Corey Claitt 6-1 G JR
Shawn Deadwiler 6-3 G JR (Loyola Marymount transfer)
Eric Dearden 6-2 G JR (a defensive stopper)
Aaron England 6-5 G JR (redshirted a year at Utah State before going the junior college route)
Tyray Petty 6-3 G SR (played high school ball in Alaska)
Jordan Swarbrick 6-6 G SR (his father Steve and his mother both played basketball at San Jose State)
Kevin Woods II 6-1 G SO

Justin Baker 6-7 F JR
Nick Jenson 6-5 F FR
Jourdain Scoubes 6-7 F SR
Lafayette Yarbray 6-7 F JR

Rory Fannon 6-9 C SO (out of New Zealand)
Jason Holm 6-7 C SO (a walk-on)


What To Expect

* San Jose State will want to pound it inside and pound it inside and pound it inside...for both points and in gaining fouls. Will the Wolverines pack it into the paint and dare the Spartans to score from outside?

* UVS is shooting 43% as a team and holding opponents to 38% as well as out-boarding teams 38-32 a game. But Coach Hunsaker's squad has totaled 102 turnovers to 61 forced as well as pilfering but 27 steals to 61 for opponents. There's some hay to be made here.

*** Swarbrick is the Wolverine leading scorer but Aaron England is the most accurate shooter, checking in at 49% overall and 47% from long range.

St. Mary's wins 78-71

Well, we didn't get a re-run but the show in the first 20 minutes was damn entertaining. The last 20 were less so as the St. Mary's came from 12 down at halftime (45-33) to win 78-71 Monday night at Walt McPherson Court.

With 11:34 remaining and San Jose State up by two, Aussie Matthew Dellavedova nailed a trey to put the Gaels finally ahead 54-52. The Spartans shots attempts were almost exclusively short up to that point in the second 20 minutes and St. Mary's was connecting both inside and from long distance.

At the 9:19 mark, Chris Oakes put SJSU back up at 57-56 but Wayne Hunter followed with a Gael three-pointer. Hunter came into the game shooting 31% from long range, the lowest of all the St. Mary's players who are on the court for significant time, yet managed four treys in six attempts Monday evening.

He nailed another with 8:34 left to widen the St. Mary's lead to five, 62-57.

A Mac Peterson three-pointer from the left side pulled the Spartans to within four at 73-69 with 1:26 remaining but it became a free throw shooting contest after that.

Going 11-22 overall at the foul line damaged the San Jose State chance for a victory.

The Gaels shot 30-64 (48%) for the game while SJSU went 28-64 (44%). Breaking that down even further, St. Mary's tallied 41% shooting in the first half but raised that to 55% in the second twenty. The Spartans were an en fuego 59% in the initial period but cooled down to 28% afterwards.

Points in the paint went favorably to SJSU 36-28. The Spartans reserves out-scored their counterparts 22-14.

Omar Sanhan and Ben Allen, the Gael bigs, went 5-12 and 3-8 respectively after coming in shooting .65% and 67% on the season.

C.J. Webster garnered a double-double of 18 points and ten boards. Chris Oakes just missed earning one with 14 points and nine rebounds.

It was more the St. Mary's trio of smalls that did the shooting damage. Mickey McConnell shot 7-12, Hunter 6-11 and Matthew Dellavedova 4-10. McConnell topped his team with both 19 points and eight assists.

Good news: 11 turnovers for SJSU -- St. Mary's committed 13.

A few Spartan Hoops thoughts

We were on the sideline watching Saturday afternoon's game against Pacific and our take is it was both physical and mental ... all over the court.

Let us explain.

What struck us the most was the stick-to-it-ness, the resolve of the SJSU contingent.

We type that because it would have been very easy to fold the proverbial team tent after being down by 10 at one point and having no momentum in the first half. That's often a time when selfishness can appear and a 'get-mine' attitude surfaces with less mature teams.

It didn't show up on Walt McPherson Court.

Then it was down by five with minimal time remaining and the participating bodies physically battered after having both dished out and taken beatings. Additionally, the Spartan players were faced with these challenges after a spirited battle against Washington followed by a blah one versus Riverside that resulted in two consecutive losses.

But SJSU didn't disappear.

No, it was bang, bang and bang some more. It was additional carrying on the fight until the contest time expired.

Granted, Adrian Oliver and Justin Graham individually didn't have the best of shooting nights...but they also certainly didn't pack it in and fall into a woe-is-me mope.

Consider that Oliver went 4-12 from the floor on the afternoon -- which obviously had to be frustrating for him -- yet he didn't react in the silly retributive fashion seen far too often elsewhere after a Pacific backcourter tossed him down to the floor in a late-in-the-game moment of visible immaturity. Oliver quietly got upright as the referees took the ball from the the Tigers and gave possession to San Jose.

Who displayed the appropriate mental toughness on that play?

Graham suffered through 3-15 shooting in the contest yet still displayed the moxie to take the critical shot -- which became the winning basket.

By the way, both Graham and Oliver were credited with four assists Saturday afternoon..

C.J. Webster latched on to 14 rebounds, edging towards half of San Jose State's boarding total -- this while displaying the emotion that seems to signal a solid contribution will be forthcoming.

So now St. Mary's -- the darling of the mid-majority collection of schools and rightly so -- comes to town tonight. The Gaels have been playing extremely well and their rep is a well-earned one.

Let's see who demonstrably comes to play and also who amps up his contribution and performance.

It's going to be another physical contest -- that's a given between these two teams -- but we'll also be focusing in on the mental aspect. It's not a matter of refusing to lose though -- much more accurately one of a willingness to compete for a full 40 minutes.

We liked what we witnessed on Saturday. Although everyone complains about re-runs on television, we're hoping to view just that in person again tonight.

St. Mary's at Walt McPherson Court Monday night

Some teams rebuild, it seems St. Mary's reloads.

Randy Bennett loses Patty Mills (now of the Portland Trailblazers) and the very underrated Diamon Simpson yet keeps on chugging along with a blend of returnees and newcomers.

Of course, it helps to have a pipeline to the Australian Institute of Sport and its top talents, something now firmly in place after the success of Mills in Moraga. Five Aussies are currently on the Gael roster -- like Pacific, here is another private school facing no concerns about out-of-state, let alone, out-of-country tuition costs.

After five straight home games, the Gaels come a bit south to match up with SJSU. We call St. Mary's a pick-a-poison opponent because try and shut down the players in the paint (a la Omar Sanham) and the outside shooters will have free reign, and vice versa.


St, Mary's Schedule to Date

Nov 13 New Mexico State 100 - 68 (W)

Nov 16 San Diego State 80 - 58 (W)

Nov 20 Vanderbilt 70 - 72 (L) - we don't know how they did it but Vandy held the Gaels to 41% shooting

Nov 23 Cal Poly 92 - 67 (W)

Nov 28 Cal Maritime 100 - 59 (W)


The Gael Starting Five

Ben Allen 6- foot-11 SR 9.6 ppg. and 7.2 rpg.
An Indiana transfer and an Aussie who can shoot from close in, from three-point range and at the foul line - shooting 67% overall, 4-7 from three-point land and 12-12 at the foul line

Omar Samhan 6-foot-11 SR 20.6 ppg. and 11.4 rpg.
Averaged 21 and 17 in games versus tough opponents Vanderbilt and San Diego State, shooting 64%, 11 blocked shots so far

Wayne Hunter 6-foot-4 SR 11.4 ppg. and 3.4 rpg.
Get him to the foul line since he's shooting 6-15 from there

Matthew Dellavedova FR 6-foot-4 15.4 ppg. and 5 apg.
Another Aussie mate who shoots well and plays intelligently, assist-to-turnover ratio is 24/8 - shooting 52% overall, 45% on three-pointers and a perfect 14-14 at the foul line

Mickey McConnell 6-foot-0 JR 10.8 ppg. and 6 apg.
His father still is and his grandfather was a prep basketball coach, he's passing well and deadly from distance -- 47% overall and 61% from long range

Off The Bench

Matthew Young 6-foot-9 FR - not much of a shooter yet but a horse on the boards, especially offensively

Clint Steindel 6-foot-7 FR - 17of his 18 shots this season havebeen treys but he's hitting only


The St. Mary's Roster

Trey Anderson G 6-4 175 FR
Matthew Dellavedova G 6-4 185 FR Victoria, Australia
Wayne Hunter G 6-4 210 SR
Mickey McConnell G 6-0 175 JR
Jorden Page G 6-1 175 FR Queensland, Australia

Phil Benson F 6-8 230 JR
Tim Harris F 6-4 190 FR (Valley Christian High) - out with ligament damage in a wrist
Beau Levesque F 6-5 215 FR
Clint Steindl F 6-7 180 SO. Queensland, Australia
Tim Williams F 6-9 235 FR
Mitchell Young F 6-9 225 FR Queensland, Australia

Ben Allen C 6-11 250 SR Melbourne, Australia
Omar Samhan C 6-11 265 SR


*** Kenton Walker II, F 6-9 235 JR (transfer from Creighton, redshirting this season)

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

* Who sets the pace of the game? Pacesetters usually win.

* Even in the loss to SEC member Vanderbilt, St. Mary's still won the battle of the boards 45-34.

* St. Mary's is outscoring its D-1 opponents 85-66 points per game, shooting 51% to .40% overall with 42% accuracy on treys.

* Regarding turnovers and steals, St. Mary's is about even with opposing teams in both categories

Pacific 'choo-ed' up 59-55

Pacific might have expected to get 'AO-ed' or 'JG-ed' (well, they did at the end by the latter) but Coach Bob Thomason wasn't expecting to get 'choo-ed' Saturday afternoon as the Tigers fell 59-55 to San Jose State. But it was a steady stream of points by Robert "Choo" Owens that led the Spartans in knocking their opponent from the unbeaten ranks.

Owens totaled 22 points, including three treys apiece in each half plus back-to-back treys late in the initial 20 minutes.

C.J. Webster put up a double-double of 12 points and 14 boards while Adrian Oliver contributed 10.

Pacific's Mike Nunnally tied the score at 48 with a nifty left-handed hook. Then backcourter Demetrece Young nailed a jumper to give the Tigers the lead but a Mac Peterson layup at the 5:15 mark tied the game again.

Lamar Neufville was successful on a pair of free throws and Terrell Smith popped a three-pointer to boost the Tigers to a 55-50 lead.

An Oliver layup cut the difference to three.

Later, Webster missed a jump hook followed by a chipshot after grabbing the offensive rebound but Smith followed those misses with a right-handed toss down of Oliver while dribble-driving and was whistled for an offensive foul.

Owens twined a three-pointer from the left corner after a nice assist pass from Justin Graham to tie the contest at 55.

Neufville followed with a missed straight-on 15-foot jumper and SJSU rebounded. Graham came down and banked his straight-on 13-footer with 10 seconds remaining, putting the Spartans ahead 57-55. There was no indication from the referees if he called the bank.

Pacific inbounded and called time at the seven second mark. Thomason followed that with a 30-second time out. The Tigers then missed a driving layup attempt and forward Sam Williard's rebound and shot in the same motion also somehow missed going down.

Webster rebounded, was fouled and nailed both free throws to close out the scoring.

For the game, San Jose State shot 53% -- 7 of 13 -- from long range. They out-rebounded Pacific 29-25 -- 10 big offensive boards in the second half -- and committed just nine turnovers to 11 for the Tigers.

At the half, Pacific led 30-26.

Do remember that this was a Spartan opponent who obliterated Santa Clara 84-57 and also topped San Diego State by eight -- this after SDSU beat Fresno State.

The game was akin to a barroom brawl in the paint with one of Newton's laws amply illustrated: "Unless acted upon by an outside force, a body at rest tends to stay at rest, and a body in motion tends to stay in motion" -- the emphasis today being the last nine words.

San Jose State hosts St. Mary's Monday night at Walt McPherson Court while Pacific now moves on to face Fresno State and then Nevada.