Junior forward Joey Shaw came off the bench to score 16 of his career-high 23 points in the first half, leading Nevada to an 80-68 victory over San Jose State on Thursday night. Shaw nailed his first six shots, four of them from 3-point range. He was 6 of 7 from the field and 4 of 5 from long range in the first half. For the game, Shaw was 9 of 13 overall and 5 of 8 from beyond the arc. Nevada (14-10, 7-4 WAC) had 17 points from Malik Cooke and 13 apiece from Luke Babbitt and Armon Johnson. Nevada beat the Spartans for the 12th time in the past 13 meetings. Its only loss was a 62-60 decision last season in San Jose. Robert Owens led San Jose State (10-12, 4-7) with 17 points, making 5 of 7 3-pointers. C.J. Webster added 15 points. San Jose State was without guard Adrian Oliver, its leading scorer, who missed the game with a sprained right ankle he suffered in the second half against Boise State on Saturday. Oliver, a transfer from Washington, is averaging 19.3 points in WAC games, tops in the conference entering this week's play. Shaw's fourth straight basket from beyond the arc gave Nevada a 30-20 lead with 7:59 left in the first half. His fifth straight, this one a turnaround 15-footer from the right corner, made it 36-21 with 5:10 left. Nevada, which snapped a two-game losing streak, built a 43-23 halftime lead, out-shooting the Spartans 66.7 percent to 37.5. San Jose State, using a pair of 3-pointers from Owens, cut the margin to 46-35 with 17:02 left, but Nevada quickly responded. Babbitt hit a jump-hook from the key, Johnson made two free throws, Shaw made a jumper from the right corner and Babbitt scored on a tip-in. That put Nevada ahead 54-37 with 13:34 left to play. Shaw's previous career-high was 21 points against Colorado State in December. Junior swingman Mac Peterson made his first career start for San Jose State but took just one shot and went scoreless.
