Cinderella Spartans

San Jose State has emerged as the Cinderella of the tournament.

The Spartans received 28 points each from their guard tandem of senior Adrian Oliver and freshman Keith Shamburger to beat No. 4 Idaho 74-68. It's San Jose State's first ever semifinal appearance.

The Spartans advanced to take on top-seeded Utah State at 7 p.m., on Friday.

San Jose State led by nine with 9:26 to play.

Idaho came back to tie the game at 68-68 with 3:01 to play but faltered down the stretch.

Shamburger was 9-for-14 from the field and 6-for-9 from 3-point range, but he scored a lay up and hit a pair of free throws off Idaho turnovers under two minutes to play to put SJSU up four with 31.3 seconds left.
Oliver's effort made him the career leader in points at the school.

San Jose State is working on another upset bid. The Spartans lead 61-55 with 7:56 left. San Jose freshman Keith Shamburger has 21 points to help Adrian Oliver today, who has 24. SJSU is 12 for 20 from 3-point range.


Idaho leads San Jose State 36-34 at the half of the early quarterfinal.

I think the Vandals might be my favorite team in the WAC right now. You think of the Vandals as a boring slow paced team but they can play multiple styles. San Jose wants to get up and down and let their guards let 3s fly (SJSU is 8-14 from 3-point range in the first half), but idaho has the pieces to keep up with Luiz Toledo, Ledbetter, Deremy Geiger and Landon Tatum. And Kyle Barone is a nice piece — a skilled big man who can put it on the floor and get to the rim. Adrian Oliver started to put on a show before he picked up his third foul. He was limited to 16 minutes, but he started to feel it. He has 14 at the half.