Spartan surprise: San Jose State hands Lobos their first Mountain West loss

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The Lobos couldn’t secure a rebound. And Latrell Davis wasn’t going to miss again.

The San Jose State guard, after a pair of offensive rebounds on his team’s final possession, hit a floater with 2.2 seconds remaining, giving the Spartans a dramatic 71-70 win over the UNM Lobos on Tuesday in front of a sparse crowd, announced at 1,853, at the Provident Credit Union Events Center.

Nelly Junior Joseph attempted a half-court heave at the buzzer for UNM, but it wasn’t close.

“At the end, they just got the rebounds we were supposed to have — they got it twice, and they made the shot,” said UNM forward Mustapha Amzil, who hit one of UNM’s only three 3-pointers with 1:57 left to put the Lobos up 66-63.

But SJSU answered with a pair of extremely difficult Will McClendon 3-pointers for a 69-68 lead with 40 seconds left.

Lobo star Donovan Dent hit a driving layup with 33 seconds left for a 70-69 lead — one the Lobos, who had been playing so well for the past month, couldn’t hold on to.

“They made couple lucky shots, but it was our fault it got that close,” Amzil said.

It was the first Mountain West loss of the season for the Lobos and snapped a seven-game win streak. UNM falls to 14-4 and 6-1 in league play just three days after a dominant, one-sided win over San Diego State in front of 15,428 raucous fans in the Pit.

"Heck of a run. We hadn't lost in a month, right? We won seven in a row, obviously best start in Mountain West history for us, which is great, but disappointing to lose this one," Pitino said. "We're just going to watch the film like we do everything else. ... we'll own it. I mean, I think San Jose is a good team. None of these league games are easy, and we'll just go turn the page. We won't flush it and ignore it, but we'll learn from every opportunity we get."

San Jose State (9-10, 2-5) had been within one possession in the final minute in four of their five league losses, including a near upset in the Pit on Dec. 4.

Three days after UNM held a rebound advantage of 16 on SDSU, who scored just one second-chance point on three offensive rebounds, the Spartans on Tuesday outrebounded UNM 42-38 and while they scored a just six second-chance points, the final two were the costliest for the Lobos.

Davis was one of five SJSU players to score in double figures. He hit a 40-foot buzzer-beater at halftime for three of his 11 points and the floater at the end for two more.

Junior Joseph scored 20 points to lead UNM, but he was used sparingly down the stretch due to foul trouble. Donovan Dent added 17 points and five assists in the loss for UNM.

UNM used a 10-0 run to take a 14-4 lead less than five minutes into the game — all 14 points scored in the paint.

By the 9:50 mark, it was 22-9 for the Lobos and San Jose State was shooting 3-of-16 at that point against a patient Lobo defense that wasn’t giving up any easy baskets.

But that was when the game changed.

The home team finally seemed to get over it’s lack of energy to start the game, firing off an 11-0 run to cut Lobos’ lead to 22-20, only to have UNM push it to 30-20 with 3:44 left in the opening half. That would be the last time in the game there would be a double-digit lead.

SJSU hit three 3-pointers in the final 1:49 of the first half, including the Davis buzzer beater, making it 35-31 Lobos at the break.

NOTES: This was UNM’s first loss this season to a team from California, having won the previous five: vs. UCLA in Henderson, Nevada; vs. USC in Palm Springs, Calif.; vs. SJSU in the Pit, vs. Fresno State in Fresno and vs. SDSU on Saturday in the Pit.

Utah State, which plays at UNLV on Wednesday, is now alone in first place in the Mountain West at 6-0.

BOX SCORE: San Jose State 71, UNM 70