Bulldogs take important steps, winning at San Diego State and in Mountain West

At the defensive end, San Diego State is one of the best in the nation, but it has not been that proficient at scoring for years. The jump shot, the 3-pointer – they are not always the best of friends for the Aztecs.

Fresno State made sure they didn’t get along Wednesday in a 63-55 victory at Viejas Arena, its first win at San Diego State since 1999.

The Bulldogs defended, particularly off ball screens. They finished possessions, rebounding to a plus-10 advantage. They gave up little around the rim – the Aztecs got only nine shots at a layup or a dunk, the fewest Fresno State has allowed in a Mountain West game this season.

(Wyoming got 27, the high mark, and that was when the Cowboys lost at Save Mart Center, not the four-overtime game in Laramie.)

The Aztecs, who had hit 50.9 percent of their shots in a last-out win over UNLV, made just 18 of 52 against the Bulldogs including 4 of 19 beyond the 3-point line.

Couple that with 18 points from freshman Bryson Williams, 15 from Deshon Taylor and 11 from Jahmel Taylor, and the Bulldogs had one satisfying victory.

“How about that?” coach Rodney Terry said, afterward. “Big win for us, easily one of the biggest we’ve had since I’ve been here.”

It also was one of the most provocative, extending a winning streak to three. There are two games to go in the regular season and a multitude of ways for the Bulldogs to improve their seeding for the Mountain West Conference Tournament in two weeks in Las Vegas.

The Bulldogs, who jumped from sixth into a tie for fourth with New Mexico, could climb to No. 2 with some help if they also win Tuesday at Boise State and on March 4 at home against UNLV.

A conference title is out of reach. Nevada or Colorado State, both 11-4, can win as many as 14 games or as few as 12; the Wolf Pack and Rams play on the final Saturday of the regular season. But with their two victories over Nevada, the Bulldogs likely will hold a tiebreaker advantage over every team in the vicinity of a top-five seed that would guarantee a bye into the quarterfinals in Las Vegas.

Fresno State (17-11, 9-7) put the pieces together at the right time last season, winning six in a row to grab the No. 2 seed. It went on to win the conference tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001.

“If we keep winning, we’ll get that first-round bye,” Deshon Taylor said.

The win at Viejas only adds to the plot.

San Diego State was 115-14 at home since the start of the 2009-10 season, its .891 winning percentage ranking ninth in the nation. It also was in its best six-game stretch of the season, going 5-1 including a victory over Nevada and a 70-67 win at Fresno State.

The Bulldogs were 4-9 on the road and 1-6 in conference road games but kept everything together when the Aztecs made a run back from an 11-point deficit in the second half, closing to within 44-43 with 7:32 to go.

“It was mostly us locking in on defense, locking in on ball screens, because their ball screens (are) the main part of their offense,” Deshon Taylor said. “We knew if we could stop that, it would be hard for them to score.”

San Diego State (16-11, 8-7) hit two of its last 11 shots, nine from the perimeter. The Aztecs are ninth in the Mountain West in field-goal percentage and 11th and last at the 3-point line, were 11th and ninth last season, and ninth and eighth the year before that.

“They played better than us,” San Diego State guard Jeremy Hemsley said. “They did what they needed to do to win, and it’s obvious that their game plan was to make us guard for half the shot clock and they did a good job of that. I mean we can’t really take anything away from that. They played good and they played better than us. The better team won tonight. ”

Said Terry: “I thought our guys were really connected in terms of what we were asking them to do from a defensively standpoint, an offensive standpoint.

“I though they really stayed the course and (worked) the game. We knew we weren’t going to come in here and knock these guys right out. This is a good program, a good team, and you know they’re going to make a run at home and you’re going to have to keep working the game. Our guys did a good job responding to that.”

This story was originally published February 23, 2017 at 2:30 PM with the headline "Bulldogs take important steps, winning at San Diego State and in Mountain West."