It’s typically atypical as Fresno State advances to MW Tournament semifinals

Strange but true, but it all happened in Fresno State’s 65-60 victory over New Mexico on Friday in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Conference Tournament …

▪ Terrell Carter II, who had made only 24 of 56 foul shots this season (42.9 percent), made four in a row with 2:24 remaining in the first half, the first two coming after being fouled in the paint by New Mexico center Obij Aget and the next two after Elijah Brown belatedly was charged with a flagrant foul.

▪ Jaron Hopkins and Cullen Russo knocked down shots at the 3-point line – Hopkins had hit 22.6 percent of his long-range shots (7 of 31) this season, Russo only 20.9 percent (9 of 43).

▪ The Bulldogs in the first half were called for 13 fouls and Bryson Williams, Russo and Carter all had three at the break. In the second half, they were called for 11 more fouls. Though four players had four or more fouls, only Williams fouled out.

▪ Fresno State hit 15 of 18 free throws, 83.3 percent. That percentage matched a season-high for the Bulldogs, who came in 11th and last in the conference in foul shooting – pun in play – in knocking down only 67 percent.

The Bulldogs also were 15 of 18 in a Feb. 11 loss at Colorado State.

▪ Jahmel Taylor, ranked fourth in the nation in 3-point field-goal percentage, was 1 of 10 overall and 1 of 7 at the 3-point line before nailing his final shot, a 3-pointer with 18 seconds to go that put the Bulldogs up 63-57.

▪ Fresno State made one of its first eight shots in the second half, but made five of its last eight.

▪ The Bulldogs led in the game for only 6:01 while New Mexico led for 29:59. The score was tied for a total of 4:00.　　

Beating dynamic duo – Brown scored 16 points for New Mexico, but was only 6 of 21 as the Bulldogs had defensive weapons to deploy. Deshon Taylor is one of the top on-ball defenders in the conference. Paul Watson had taken on a number of guards this season and last. Jaron Hopkins can guard, as well.

The question for the Bulldogs was how they would deal with Brown and forward Tim Williams, who had come back in the regular-season finale against San Diego State after missing seven games with a foot injury.

Together, they can make for a tough out.

Coach Rodney Terry on Williams, who was 5 of 12 in scoring 15 points with six rebounds: “He’s a great scorer, you’re not going to stop him. You try to do the job containing him. And the thing that we really tried to wall up and not give him a second opportunity. If he missed the shot, we couldn’t give him a quick stick-back.

“It was going to be by committee. No one guy was going to be in charge of doing that. And we tried to throw the kitchen sink at him. Karachi (Edo) hadn’t played in three weeks. Had to dig deep. He’s a very difficult match up, and he has been the whole time he’s been in this league. We have a lot of respect for him and their program in terms of how they play. And offensive rebounding is a big part of what they do, free throw shooting is a lot of what they do as well, and I thought our guys clamped down the latter part of the game.”

Terry on Brown: “Another player you’re not going to stop. Again, you’re trying to contain. The last two ballgames we worked really hard at not trying to foul him in the act of shooting. We were talking to our perimeter players about walling up like we do with our big guys, and just holding your ground in a vertical position, so we don’t give him those extra opportunities at the free throw line that he’s so accustomed to getting.

“I thought our guys tried to stay to the game plan in doing that. We did a good job in Fresno the last time out, and I thought we did a good job here.”　

Free throw deficit – New Mexico, which had all of the Bulldogs’ bigs in foul trouble in the second half and came in second in the nation in percentage of points scored from the foul line, attempted only seven free throws in the second half.

The Lobos also were 3 of 7 and 12 of 22 in the game, 54.5 percent. They had come in as the best free-throw shooting team in the Mountain West, hitting 75.2 percent.

Terry and his staff did a nice job managing minutes, but the Bulldogs’ guards also helped in pressuring the ball.

“I would say just ball pressure on the perimeter,” Hopkins said. “It helps our big guys down low, especially when they have to guard Tim Williams or (Obij) Aget down low, at the perimeter it’s hard to post, you don’t have to worry about fouling something like that.”

This story was originally published March 9, 2017 at 8:35 PM with the headline "It’s typically atypical as Fresno State advances to MW Tournament semifinals."