Bulldogs win easily in second exhibition, taking out Pacific Union 99-56 | The Fresno Bee

The game, not competitive. The score, not close. Fresno State beat up on Pacific Union in an exhibition on Monday at the Save Mart Center, winning 99-56.

Whether or not the Bulldogs got anything but exercise out of the game is debatable, but before things got too far out of hand they did get more of a look at Bryson Williams facing the basket at power forward and the sophomore produced.

In 21 minutes, Williams hit 9 of 13 shots in scoring 19 points with 11 rebounds, two assists and three blocked shots.

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“It’s a lot for fun for me,” said Williams, who played primarily at center last season. “It’s helping me grow as a player and getting me better. It’s something I’ve been working hard on.

“I’ve been putting time in the weight room, putting time in on my body, dedicating myself to the gym. I just want to better myself as a player as I mature in this college game. I want to be as a versatile as I can. I want to be able to face up, shoot the ball, be able to get to the hole, and also be able to have a post-up game.”

The early returns are promising – against much different competition in an exhibition last week at Saint Mary’s, Williams had 16 points and six rebounds in 29 minutes.　

Stat of the game

Pacific Union did not have a player hit the floor that was taller than 6-foot-6. The Bulldogs had a 51-31 advantage rebounding the basketball and scored 64 of their points in the paint on lay ups and dunks.

Notable

The Bulldogs didn’t get much from the bench in an exhibition last week at Saint Mary’s, but got 16 points in 21 minutes from Johnny McWilliams and 12 points and six rebounds in 13 minutes from Nate Grimes.

“You’re always trying to build eight, nine, it’s a luxury to have 10 guys that can play,” coach Rodney Terry said. “You’re going to need those guys. You’re going to need two guards off the bench, you’re going to need two bigs off the bench, that can give a you consistent play every night.

“We need those guys to play for us, we do, and be contributors for us whether that’s five minutes, eight minutes, 10 minutes. When they come in, they affect the game. Both guys have worked really hard to work their way into our rotation.”

Quotable

Terry: “The biggest thing I wanted our guys to do tonight was to come out, compete really hard, play hard, don’t play down in terms of who you’re playing. It’s about us right now. It’s about is getting better on every possession and I tried to coach that way.

“We tried to hit the rest button at halftime and say it’s 0-0 right now and we have to be a team that starts halves, starts games the right way. You’re just trying to build habits right now. That’s what you’re trying to do, and trying to establish an identity.”