Courtesy: San Jose State Athletics

The San Jose State Spartans scratched out a 13-point victory on the road in San Antonio by the score of 80-67.

James Kinney had 22 points to lead all scores. Chris Cunningham chipped in 19, and LaVonne Pennington had 16 off the bench for the Spartans.

The Spartans shot the ball at a 56 percent clip, while holding the UTSA Roadrunners to 39.3 percent. SJSU was also 9/18 on threes.

This was a tightly contested game for much of the first half. San Jose State had the lead throughout, but the Roadrunners hung around. Pennington’s back-to-back three pointers to end the half gave the Spartans a 36-3-0 advantage.

San Jose State pulled away in the second half, going on a 7-0 run in the early stretch. Pennington once again made back-to-back threes to extend their lead to 55-45 with 13:27 to play.

The Roadrunners cut the lead to five midway through the half, but the Spartans responded with an 8-0 to push the lead to double-figures once again. That proved to be the decisive statement, as San Jose State cruised from there to pull the win on the road.

“This win was a good team effort for us today,” said Spartan head coach George Nessman. “We challenged UTSA and our interior defense stepped up and wore them out.”

The Spartans are now 2-0 in conference play and will face Idaho on Thursday.