Bulldogs grind out critical men’s basketball win over New Mexico

It was a grind, right from the start. Fresno State and New Mexico lurched forward and back, stopped and started by a foul, a turnover, a play at the defensive end.

Momentum was a fleeting thing for the longest time, the largest lead for any team just four points. The score was tied 10 times. The lead changed hands 10 times.

The Bulldogs got a lead of five, and then Jahmel Taylor knocked down a 3-pointer off an assist by Jaron Hopkins with 11 minutes to go. From there they were able to make a stand in a 71-61 victory over the Lobos on Saturday afternoon at Save Mart Center.

Fresno State, under pressure down the stretch, just kept making plays, at both ends of the floor. New Mexico closed, shaving the lead down to three at one point.

But the Bulldogs continually attacked the rim, be it Deshon Taylor, Hopkins or Paul Watson. They made good use of Bryson Williams and Terrell Carter II in the paint. Of the Bulldogs’ 41 second-half points, 22 came in the lane and another 13 at the free-throw line.

They also kept the Lobos’ Elijah Brown from becoming a factor, limiting the junior guard to 11 points and no assists. Brown during the past seven games had averaged 23.6 points and 3.9 assists, but he was 4 of 12 overall and 1 of 6 beyond the 3-point line against the Bulldogs in a game where every possession was critical, even though both teams gave more than a few away.

Fresno State got Damien Jefferson and Obij Aget off the floor with early fouls, Jefferson picking up a second foul at the 16-minute mark and Aget a second at 13:40.

The Bulldogs (16-11, 8-7 Mountain West) found foul trouble of their own, with seven of their 11 turnovers in the first half on offensive fouls, and couldn’t get too far away.

They hit the half even, the score tied at 30. Fresno State had hit only 9 of 24 shots (37.5 percent) with those 11 turnovers, not the picture of efficiency.

But the Bulldogs continued to work the game and at the end were again peeking at life above the .500 mark in the conference with an eye on securing a top five seed for the conference tournament and first-round bye that comes with it.

New Mexico fell to 16-11 and 9-6.

Stat of the game – Brown took just three free throws, matching the fewest he has had this season. When New Mexico beat the Bulldogs in the conference opener, he was 14 of 14 at the foul line in scoring 19 points, and he was leading the conference in free throw attempts in MW play.

Defending without fouling played large for the Bulldogs, who changed up the way they defended Brown on his jump shot.

“This game was made a lot easier on myself, definitely because of game film,” Watson said. “I got to sit back and learn from a lot of mistakes that were made in the last game at their place, falling into traps for fouls and things like that. He’s a really good player. He knows how to use his body to create contact or sell a certain foul, so I would definitely say that last game was a learning tool and tried to stay out of foul trouble.　

Notable – Fresno State turned over the ball 11 times in the first half, seven on offensive fouls. The Bulldogs had 15 turnovers in the game, but New Mexico was able to turn them into only eight points. Fresno State scored 20 points off 19 New Mexico turnovers.　　

Quotable – Fresno State coach Rodney Terry: “We got stops when we needed to get stops. Obviously, that always helps. We get stops at Wyoming then we win the game at Wyoming. When you’re able to dig down and get some critical stops and then scores on the other end ... we’ve been able to do that the last two games at home where we get a stop, score, stop. We weren’t able to put those consecutive stops together on the road to win the two games on the road and the game here at home. That’s probably been the glaring thing for us in terms of just finding a way.”　

More notable – Williams, the freshman from Roosevelt High, had the first double-double of his career with 14 points and 10 rebounds.　　

Coming up – Fresno State made a defensive adjustment against the Lobos, trying to keep Brown and his teammates off the foul line where they had scored the third highest percentage of points in the nation. When the Bulldogs lost at New Mexico in their conference opener, the Lobos hit 29 of 34 foul shots. On Saturday, 12 of 17.　

This story was originally published February 18, 2017 at 6:04 PM with the headline "Bulldogs grind out critical men’s basketball win over New Mexico."